A Clockwork Heart
by MedicalNonsense
Summary: Ludwig is a high office executive  not necessarily a happy one either  and has been for awhile.  One day a man who claims to be his superior arrives saying that he must observe him for some kind of important program, just what is it exactly? AU Ger/Am
1. A Well Respected Man

A Well Respected Man

6:30 sharp, Ludwig rose from bed, blinking the sleep from his eyes in the same way that he had the prior day. And also just like the day before, he stepped out of bed (right leg then left) and trod into his bathroom. Using his right hand, he turned on the shower to warm while taking his morning piss and yawning. After this he washed his hands and grabbed his toothbrush, putting some paste on it before walking into the shower and brushing his teeth.

Wet hair (opening his mouth to gargle and spit out the dirtied water of his now clean mouth), scrub with shampoo, rinse, scrub with conditioner, let sit and scrub body with body wash, rinse all at once. He stepped out of the shower after that (right leg then left just as getting out of bed) and dried his face, leaving the bathroom back for his room (exactly thirteen steps).

His towel was deposited into the hamper, turning to his left he found his work clothes. Blue shirt, red (blue stripes) tie, dark slacks and putting it all on (left arm first then right arm). His tie sat around his neck waiting to be tied while he leans down to pick up his pants and to tuck his shirt. Once the fly of the slacks is zipped it is then tied the same way as it has been tied for five years.

A thirty-step journey his kitchen then took place where the same mechanical movements of breakfast that had been going on for five years (just like his tie) happened.

One of the last things that happens every morning before he leaves his house (after putting his shoes on but before grabbing his keys), he bids the black and white portrait hanging on his wall farewell.

Though this is an every day occurrence it is no less sincere than the first day that he did it.

From there he treks to the nearest subway station (the same one it has always been) and hops the 8:30 train to his office building. He's high in the managerial department of this branch of the company (always arriving at 9:00 exactly), the seat of it being somewhere in Utah. What the company does exactly? Well, he could be the perfect little clockwork wind-up toy and say it manages stocks along with a lot of other blather, but on the inside, where his sarcasm and daddy-issues sit he can say "doesn't do shit" and still be perfectly right.

The day progresses, he takes calls, talks to clients and gives them his perfect smile that doesn't reach his eyes. Has meetings with his bosses who he finds completely incompetent (and to be honest _are_, he's particularly good at undermining all of them and climbing the corporate ladder, he didn't go from simple tech-support to where he was now five years ago in six months by magic). And of course, has lunch (having brought the same salad he had for five years) and chats with people who think they are funny and aren't (but he doesn't have the heart to tell them that they suck and gives them his almost mechanical laugh [them being none-the-wiser as it is the only laugh they have ever seen from him]).

At the end of his work day (5:30 sharp) he turns off the light, throws on his coat, picks up his suitcase and leaves down the same hallway.

"See you tomorrow, Ludwig." Arthur always says absently as he goes over his last minute paperwork. At 5:32, Ludwig presses the down button for the elevator. For approximately one minute and thirty-five seconds he stares straight ahead at the door until… Until… Ludwig turned his head slightly to his left, no one… At 5:33.35 Matthew Williams comes to stand next to him to bring papers down to the lower floors for late distribution and today he is absent. Not thinking anything of it, Ludwig looks back to the elevator doors as the remaining fifteen seconds passes and the doors open.

He steps in and waits; at floor six Yao Wang from HR gets on; at floor four, he gets off and is quickly replaced by the loud-mouthed Yong-Soo Im. For exactly six minutes he stands on the elevator **alone** with Yong-Soo (he's leaving work too now) until the elevator lets off at the basement level where the cars are parked (also has subway access). After those horrendous six minutes are up, Ludwig always disappears without a word leaving Yong-Soo just as clueless as the day before.

Once home, Ludwig says hello to the portrait on the wall, drops his keys where they have always sat, takes off his shoes and puts them where they go and loosens his tie.

He makes dinner, eats it, checks his email on his laptop then brushes his teeth again. For two more hours he sat up to do work that he was unable to finish at the building and then stripped to his boxers and undershirt. Laying out his clothes for tomorrow (in this case a white shirt and butterscotch tie with brown slacks) then leads to him collapsing onto his bed and falling into sleep only to rise at the same time tomorrow and repeat his day all over again.

This following morning though was going the same as always until he steps into the elevator. A person who is not usually there is standing in the corner and staring at him. Nineteen was whereabouts Ludwig would put his age and, by his tender face, of about the same mindset. It confused him as why such a person that was obviously optimistic would be _here_… And staring at him.

"Hey!" The bespectacled blonde greeted him.

"Uhm… Hello." Ludwig greeted pressing the button for his floor (nine). As he tried to ignore the presence of the other blonde in the elevator there was a strange feeling scratching at the back of his mind. This was the very last stop for this elevator and he had just been _sitting_ in here… Like he had been waiting or something. His eyes slide to the corners to look at him only to dart straight back ahead when they see that the happy-go-lucky seeming man is staring at him still. "That's euhm… Rather uncomfortable." Ludwig tells him.

"What is?" The young man questions, tipping his head to the side.

"Your staring at me…"

"But I'm here _for_ you." Ludwig blinked at this odd explanation and turned to look at him again, confused astonishment in his eyes.

"What?" he asked, his companion chuckling and fixing his glasses.

"I'm Alfred Jones and I'm from upstairs!" Alfred laughed pointing up with his index finger, it taking Ludwig a moment to figure out what he meant. But even a rough guess of what his intended meaning was was still translucent at best.

"Upstairs or upstairs-upstairs?" Not an intelligent-sounding question sure, but the only way he could put it. Apparently the question didn't strike Alfred as being odd, nor stupid, in fact, he himself seemed to be stumbling for a way to answer it.

"Upstairs-upstairs." He answered tentatively, seeming to gauge Ludwig's reaction to it.

So this man was from the corporate headquarters and was here for him! Was he here offering a promotion? That was likely the only thing Ludwig could think of, but the question was whether or not he was going to take it. He had lived in this city all his life. It was where he went to school, got his first job, got his Bachelor's Degree, started work here, where he lost his virginity, fell in love, had his heart broken and lost his brother. Well… Maybe he needed a change of scenery _after all_.

"May I ask why you are here?" Ludwig posed gingerly, not sure if it was his place to ask his higher authorities such things (whether or not they seemed like an airhead).

"Oh right! I am here to observe you! You see, you are being considered for a _very special _program! Yes! Of the utmost importance my friend!" Alfred said with a big grin, "It's wonderful that you took the news so well! I've done this before and a lot of people drop to the floor and start kissing my shoes or something. Either that or they say I'm a complete nut-job." The shorter blonde laughed again and slapped the uncomfortable German on the shoulder. Now the first, Ludwig (to some degree) could understand, but the second… Well that hardly made any sense for one to insult someone who could technically be counted as their boss. "In fact, I think I told _my_ superior that he was crazy when he came for me. 'Cause you know, you don't ever expect people of great power to _ever_ call upon yourself!" Oh dear God… Ludwig realized he was spending the _whole_ day with this babbling dunderhead. Why did this seem so bad? Well even as Ludwig was clearly not listening anymore the other man just kept on yammering on and on and on.

This job, in all actuality was perfect for Ludwig. He only ever had to talk to people that were lower than him and hence never really rambled on about anything and when he did talk to people of his own standing he could simply say he had work to do to get them to shut up. Talking to his bosses, he only ever got face-time with them about once a week for about five minutes and so nobody (save for probably Arthur) was aware of the short fuse his patience held. He once had a roommate in college, Feliciano was his name, he was lazy, chatty and never cleaned up after himself! Of course though, he had a certain charm and it didn't necessarily take long for him to start to have a certain affection for the boy and they got along pretty well.

Ludwig thought for a moment, right out of college the two used to be inseparable (for very good reasons) but that changed after they both got jobs. Ludwig guessed it had been nearly five years since they spoke even over the phone. This man in the elevator with him reminded him so much of Feliciano and for the first time in a long time he considered calling the small Italian man to catch up. This of course lead him to wondering when the last time it was he had taken a vacation… Never, nope, it occurred to him he probably had about a year's worth of vacation time saved up as he never even once took a sick day.

"Hey! Are you even listening to me?" Alfred broke Ludwig out of his reveries and Ludwig looked to him.

"Erhm, yes?"

"Okay, good! Because I was about to say you just missed some crucial information if you weren't." Oh hell…

"But uh, would you mind repeating the more important points of it?"

"Nah!" Alfred slapped Ludwig's arm again, more than likely hurting his own hand against Ludwig's naturally muscular frame. "You look like the type of man with a steel-trap mind! I'm sure you'll do fine!" Shit. That was the last time Ludwig was ever going to indulge that side of him while _this_ man was around as it seemed he transitioned from useless nonsense into critical information very easily.

Today was going to be worse than hell!

He said his customary greetings to people as he passed their offices, a "Good morning" to Arthur… Yeah, that was about the only greeting he offered anyone as he really didn't care about anyone else. Arthur had been a friend since high school, but the didn't talk anymore out of the hellos and goodbyes.

"Gee, you know Arthur?" Alfred commented as they walked by Arthur's door. The Englishman lifted his head at his name just in time to see Alfred's heel leave the door frame after Ludwig. The blonde man shrugged and got back to his work.

"Yes. We were friends in high school." Ludwig answered him, wondering why Alfred was just making small talk.

"The jerk's my cousin." he carped at Ludwig, "But I guess that's cool." Ludwig didn't have a way to answer him that wouldn't be seen as rude, so he kept his mouth shut.

They walked into his office then and Ludwig began his usual routine of work, this time with Alfred staring at him… It was more unnerving than he ever thought it would be, not because of who he was, just that someone was watching him closely in general. He had only ever been comfortable with two people doing that in his life and those people were his dad and Feliciano. It wasn't his place to tell him to stop though, so he would just have to deal with it.

And deal with it he did, Alfred sat quietly… Okay, he fidgeted a lot, he went from tapping his knees to rocking back and forth in the squeaky chair Ludwig provided him to tapping his knees again, humming some sort of tune and clicking his nails on Ludwig's desk… So, Alfred sat not-so-very-quietly at the side of Ludwig's desk and **stared** clear until lunch.

Once the small digital clock on Ludwig's desk beeped, he shot up from his desk to flee to the break room, taking his bag with his salad in it with him.

"Oh! Is it lunchtime?" his new companion asked, getting up to follow him. His nerves had never been so rubbed raw before, at least when he was with Feliciano the boy made up for it somehow. This man just… He really hadn't even _done_ anything and he was annoying as hell!

"Yes." Ludwig informed him, walking into the break room, it already reeking something awful from Arthur heating up his food. There was a strangled noise behind Ludwig as Alfred was yanked from the room by a gloved hand, but the German didn't look back fast enough to see it. He blinked at the empty doorway that was free of his annoyance and decided he didn't know how long he would have alone without the staring. Quickly, he sat down across the table from Arthur's rotten-smelling abomination to food and opened his salad, flipping his tie over his shoulder while skewering a tomato with some lettuce before stuffing it into his face.

"Whoa, what's got you all in a bunch?" Arthur asked without true interest, it really being held by the newspaper in his left hand. Ludwig looked up from his food, swallowing the mush of plant matter in his mouth.

"This guy." Ludwig took another bite of greenery and Arthur took a sip of his tea. To be honest, Ludwig didn't feel it necessary to inform Arthur that the man was his cousin. It wouldn't affect things if he knew the type of people the both of them were.

"That's really specific, chap." Another sip.

"He's from corporate, I think." Now the Englishman's attention was rightly gathered, he put down the paper he was reading alongside his tea and lunch.

"What makes you think that?" Not that Arthur _actually_ cared or anything, this jerk hadn't really made any effort to speak with him in years. Usually he didn't even eat lunch in the break room, preferring his office over this place. Stupid things tended to happen once a certain Frenchman accompanied by a Spaniard on the floor made an appearance. Such things as rude effigies of himself being carved into the wood of the table by knives.

"He said he was from upstairs management." Ludwig put another tomato in his mouth and chewed, forking some spinach in next. Arthur hummed thoughtfully before picking up his paper again and the two ignoring each other. Ludwig was a man of few words and Arthur was a man that didn't like being ignored and hence was prone to ignoring back.

Out in the hallway though, as their conversation had been going, another was going on between two co-workers of a different type.

"What did I say about you being noticed?" Alfred's superior spat into his face unintentionally, his accent was trying to rear its head and hence made his more forceful tones showered in saliva.

"Uhm… What?" The blonde stared blankly at Gilbert who was now sighing with irritation.

"Okay, I vill… I _will_ say it one last time then, you nimrod. Two of your cousins and your brother work here, you are not supposed to **be** here. You need to be inconspicuous. Waltzing into a room that has someone that could recognize you in it is not advised. If you get caught it's on my head." Suddenly the albino's eyes flicked down the hall at a rather loud ruckus. A Spanish man (Antonio was his name) rounded the corner, merrily running from someone, a blonde, who just then slammed into the wall unable to make the corner. At this Gilbert seemed to panic and snapped out of existence to somewhere safe, yanking Alfred along with him.

"What was that for?" Alfred questioned, the wind at the top of the building whipping around forcefully, playing with both of the men's fair hair.

"Your cousin was coming at you, I had to save you from being seen." Alfred, though he was dense, sensed that his boss wasn't telling all that needed to be told; but his boss was supposed to be great at his job, so why should he question his motives? "Don't ever use the method I just employed, boy. Only do that in a dire emergency and only when there is a low chance of you being seen."

"But you just used it while those two were coming right at us…" The blonde pointed out to his superior and Gilbert sighed.

"They were _obviously_ so wrapped up in their stupid little games they didn't notice either of us. Probably if we had both been standing there they would have crashed into us, the idiots they are." he rolled his eyes and Alfred nodded, "Now, I'm going to take a peek into Mr. Beilschmidt's office and if he isn't there, just stay there and _wait_ for him. Nobody ever dares go into Ludwig's office even if he's not there."

Gilbert appeared in Ludwig's office, finding no one he mumbled, "Amnediel, it's all clear." Alfred popped into existence next to him and stumbled a little, he was still getting used to the whole instant transportation thing. "Okay, now sit and be good. Do your job and look after him. If you don't I will wring your non-corporeal neck. Capiche?"

"Yes, Cerviel." Alfred bid him, chuckling nervously, his boss sure was scary on this job. Generally he was pretty laid back on most things, if Alfred screwed up a little he let it slide. So far he had _barely_ screwed up and Gilbert was ready to rip him a new one. Slightly he wondered if this job meant more to him than he was letting on.

"Also, find a way to convince him to let you go home with him. You'll come up with something." With that, Gilbert was gone, leaving Alfred alone in Ludwig's office, twiddling his thumbs.

Ludwig took a step into his office and spotted the blonde sitting in the chair he had been occupying earlier, drumming his fingers on his knees again. He took a cleansing breath and stepped into the room, entertaining his hands that wished to throttle Alfred by fixing his askew tie. Why did he already feel like killing him? It wasn't natural for someone to grate on his nerves _this_ much from just one day. Ludwig just decided that he was cranky today for some unknown reason. If Alfred was still here tomorrow he might take it better, maybe even try to talk to him.

"Ludwig!" Or maybe he wouldn't, even his voice was becoming irritating.

"I don't remember giving you my name, Mr. Jones." Ludwig informed him, forgetting to think in his irascibility that Alfred came here for him specifically and hence logically knew his name.

"Of course I know it…" Alfred quirked his brow at him a little bit, fixing his glasses to sit better on his nose. "Higher authorities made sure I wouldn't forget it. It's a pretty unique name for America anyway."

"I'm not from here originally." While he wasn't particularly keen on divulging unnecessary information to Alfred, this was preferable to the staring.

"Switzerland then, right?"

"Germany…" Why the hell would he guess _that_ one first?

"Oh…" Alfred chuckled lightly and took his glasses off, wiping them with the hem of his shirt that he just un-tucked.

"I could say your name isn't exactly normal. Not many young people named Alfred anymore." The German sat down at his desk and began to go over papers that held various numbers of no meaning to Alfred.

"Most of my family is British." Not that that was any real explanation, but it made a little bit of sense.

"Arthur is your cousin, I could have guessed." Ludwig stopped and thought for a second, there was something he was supposed to remember about one of Arthur's cousins. It didn't readily spring to mind so he went with the next thing, "Part of your family must be French then."

"Yep. Francis is a dead giveaway to that, I guess."

"Matthew closer to your French side?" Ludwig was flipping a pen around his finger idly as he signed off on some of the paperwork. Oblivious to the look on Alfred's face, he was also quite oblivious himself about the resemblance between the two blondes. It wasn't his job to match family member's though, he never really had to think about it.

"Yeah." Alfred replied quietly. Ludwig had to answer a call then, Alfred observing closely the whole time. He took careful notice of the manufactured joy in Ludwig's voice. The way the pleasantries seemed to flow nicely but all the same stiffly from his tongue. His mechanical laughter at something "funny" the person said and his cold sigh when he was able to hang up the phone. "Is something wrong?" Alfred asked, Ludwig's blue eyes flicking to him for a second.

"No." The executive pulled some papers out in response to the phone call and began to work on them. "Why do you ask?" Interest wasn't even a part of the equation, he just didn't want the silent staring.

"You don't seem happy."

"I am happy."

"I can tell you're lying, Ludwig."

"Is it your place to call me out?" Ludwig grumbled under his breath, realizing it wasn't _his_ place to bring that to Alfred's attention. His muscles tensed, waiting for a thrashing that would never come. Tentatively, his eyes slid to look at his superior and the man was just smiling at him.

"It might not be, but I at least got you thinking."

"What does that mean?" he relaxed slightly, his wrist twitching back into action.

"As if you so didn't just think if you were happy or not." Alfred's pink tongue stuck out at him for a second.

"I didn't. I don't need to, because I _know_ I'm happy."

"Oh really?"

"Really." Ludwig lifted his head slightly, his steely eyes penetrating deep under Alfred's skin. They almost seemed to tell him to step off of the trail he was on; if it ever came to pass that he got to the end of it, he wouldn't like what he found.

"When was the last time you went out with friends." Ever the one to push the card, Alfred forged ahead in the conversation. As he suspected, Ludwig was too afraid not to answer and hence did so against his will.

"I can't remember, okay?"

"What about tonight?"

"No."

"Oh come on, you get off at 5:30, you have all night to have fun!" Alfred nudged him with his elbow slightly and Ludwig tensed up again. "We can go to a bar together!"

"No!" Ludwig barked, surprising the buddy-buddy American with the harshness of his insistence. "I don't want to go out tonight." Hardly believing that he just did that, Ludwig got back to work, his pen flying fast enough for Alfred to swear he saw ink flinging off it.

"Bad experience?" Damn this man wasn't shakable…

"I just don't want to."

"Why not?"

"Because." By now, the man was working his very hardest to keep his temper under control, but Alfred was apparently a professional at pressing his buttons. But maybe that was what he was supposed to do… By God! It all made sense! What if he had already failed his test? Dammit!

"Because _why_?"

"I just don't want to. I have to get up early the next morning."

"Ludwig, I've looked at how much vacation time you have saved up, you know you have over a year, right?"

"Of course, I get a little piece of paper at the end of every quarter that tells me."

"Why didn't it ever occur to you to take a personal day?"

"Because I like working… And I have Sundays anyway." He also had Saturdays, but he preferred to come in on Saturdays too even if he really didn't have that much work to do. He would just spend them as he spent his Sundays if he didn't come in. Sitting alone in his home, doing the crossword on his paper, going for like five jogs, the gym and that was it; maybe he would read a little bit, but nothing outside of work interested him. Honest…

"Why not just take a day to relax and let off a load? You know your work will be transferred to someone else if you don't show up."

"Then I would be burdening them. It's not my place."

"You have a right to be happy."

"I told you **I am**." Not wanting to continue this dialog any further, Ludwig cut him off by focusing solely on his paperwork, Alfred frowning sadly.

The thing was, Alfred _knew _he wasn't happy, hadn't been in a long time. Even if it was only his job to watch over Ludwig, he would also do him the service of making him happy if it killed him.


	2. E Pluribus Unum

I forgot to add any sort of notes to the last one, this is sort of my holiday story, sort of… So, the whole name is A Clockwork Heart: A Tale of Yuletide Romance and War. Anyway, I promised somebody on here a Germerica fic and decided to take it to the level of a story all its own. Hope it is well-liked!

!%!%!

E Pluribus Unum

Irritatingly enough, Alfred spent the rest of his work day (that's right, five hours of it), staring at Ludwig as the German did not wish for dialog. So, when the clock on Ludwig's desk said "5:30", much like he did when going to lunch today, he bolted up and quickly threw on his coat.

"Oh, Ludwig, one thing I have to tell you." Alfred waited for Ludwig to look grudgingly over his shoulder at him.

"Yes?" Was the response Alfred received.

"I have no prior set-ups in this place and well, uhm…" Alfred had a really strong feeling in the pit of his stomach that Ludwig wasn't going to like this at all, "I was also instructed that while I am here to observe your home life as well." Okay, a little lie never hurt anyone. The German was quiet for a moment, waiting for the cogs to turn in his head as to just the implications of that.

"Are you saying you're spending the night as long as you are here?" The growl in his voice intimidated Alfred just a little bit even if he knew he shouldn't be. It stated in Ludwig's profile that he was irascible, but a gentle man, he would yell, though never hit, unless hit first. Preposterous it was also that a human could harm him, it still never stopped Alfred from his own leftover human impulses to wince back.

"Yes, isn't that great?" The look on Ludwig's face suggested that was the _worst_ idea he had heard in years. All the same though, he replied with, "If it must be done, so be it." and he slipped his coat on, picked up his suitcase, turned off the lights and left.

Alfred trailing behind him as he began to leave, Ludwig grumbled internally, how was this legal? Being forced to house your own superior had to be against the law… Ludwig figured he had nothing to hide though, so why bother fighting it? Suddenly he thought about some of the magazines he had laying around upstairs in his bedroom and knew that he would have to do some cleaning before Alfred was allowed a full tour of the house. Damn it all… If not for that single quirk of his personality, Ludwig would be a completely "normal" human being. No, it was never in his blood to be normal though. Not when his father constantly yelled at him to get things right the first time and even when he did never offered any kind of kind words. One could say that Ludwig was a man who was never hugged enough as a child. Neither was his older brother, but he had stopped listening to Daddy a long time ago. His brother was about three years older than him (he currently being of the age of twenty-seven, do the math) and when at aged ten he had stopped listening to their dad, he turned all his frustrations on the little brother of seven years. He didn't have a normal family life, he couldn't confide in his father and his brother, though he was somewhat protective of Ludwig, was too busy with his own life to hear about Ludwig's.

High school had been hard on Ludwig, the boy who never relaxed for a second, with perfect militaristic posture he walked down the halls and a straight-A student. He hadn't made many friends (the closest thing he had was his older brother's friends) and somehow or another managed to end up on everyone's hate list. Maybe it was how all the teachers loved him, how he only ever returned insults as cutting remarks rather than getting angry, or just that his general unsociability came off as he was too good for other people. The last was hardly the case, he was more intimidated by talking to people than anything else, afraid they wouldn't like him. Never really telling anyone this didn't get him anywhere and soon, before Freshman year was over, he was getting into fights. Ludwig never started the fights, he only retaliated and Christ did the kids learn fast you didn't ever come to physical conflict with him. After his first big fight (a three on one) and he won, he earned some very unflattering nicknames. Most of them pertaining to his heritage. Being a good fighter and German apparently automatically made you a Nazi, no matter how sweet a person you were on the inside. Or how innocent, going through Freshman health class was agonizing and embarrassing, his face was cherry-red the entire class-long.

Of course, the hatred was mostly on the male side of the student body, the women though… Ludwig was tall, strong, intelligent (the most attractive man on the chess team) and had a cute smile if you could ever coax it out of him. Everyone wanted to be his date to either a football game or the school dances and he was always too shy to respond to them. Not that women were really what he was interested in, though. Even from as early as sixth grade he had known he wasn't into women. Far be it from him to tell anyone other than his brother about that though. Who knows what his father would have done to him and only God knows how the kids would have jeered. Being different because of his paralyzing social ineptness was bad enough, people didn't have to know that he was homosexual to boot.

Graduating high school had been a lonely affair and he had spent the after hours of it with his brother and his friends. Still as awkward as ever, but less so. He didn't even give himself a summer break from college (more like his father wouldn't) he started the summer quarter of a respectable university. Many places were just scrambling for his attention, he had graduated top of his class and was going to major in business. Truly, he had expected college to be the same as high school, gladly, he was proven wrong. Especially by his roommate. How on Earth Feliciano Vargas had managed to get into the school was beyond Ludwig. He just figured his grandfather had some kickass connections (which, that was true, but not the reason the boy got in).

Again Ludwig was considering calling the man up, he missed him dearly now that he was thinking of him, what was he doing? Probably getting pushed around by his older brother or something. Maybe he was just living off the fortune his grandfather left him, there was enough in his inheritance that he would never have to work.

Ludwig reached the elevator and was surprised to see that Alfred had up and disappeared somewhere. Maybe he was looking for the bathroom? Hopefully he hadn't said anything important while he was thinking…

Right on time, Matthew came to stand next to him and Ludwig greeted him with a simple "Hello."

"Hi." Matthew customarily replied back. Unlike most days, considering Alfred had been the only person to discuss anything at length with, Ludwig chose to attempt conversation.

"Are you enjoying having your cousin in town?" He started awkwardly, Matthew looking to him and tipping his head curiously.

"You mean Arthur and Francis? They're always here." Matthew smiled slightly at him like "silly man". "So wrapped up in your work you don't remember that?"

"No, uhm, not talking about them." Ludwig cracked a very difficult smile, his face not used to sincerity.

"Oh, then who?" The strawberry blonde inquired curiously, the elevator dinging to announce its arrival.

"I meant your cousin Alfred." With the utterance of that Ludwig wished he could have taken back the statement as he was given a most awful glare for it. He was _pretty damn_ sure he never wanted to see that face ever again in life.

"Asshole." Matthew mumbled, storming away and leaving Ludwig hopelessly confused. What just happened? Blinking with a blank expression on his face, he stepped into the elevator and was quickly joined by Alfred who rushed down the hall after him.

"Sorry man, had to use the facilities!" Not really, but it was a believable enough excuse. Ludwig nodded his head, looking very out of sorts and punched the button for the basement level. "What's the matter?" At first it appeared that the German wasn't going to answer him as he looked like he was thinking again. After a few moments though he said, "Matthew _is_ related to you isn't he?"

"Matthew Williams?" The shorter man asked.

"Yes."

"Yep. Why?"

"Well… Are you and he feuding or something?"

"Not really, why do you ask?"

"Because when I mentioned you were here he just called me an 'asshole' and left to use the stairs." Alfred bit his tongue thoughtfully, there was a million and one things he could have said about this and all of them wouldn't have been appropriate to tell Ludwig yet. So he just went with ignorance.

"I don't know why he would. The kid usually doesn't even curse."

"I'll ask Arthur tomorrow at lunch." Well that wouldn't have been a good thing! For the moment, Alfred figured it best to let Ludwig believe what he wanted to. Sure in the beginning he had outright told Ludwig where he was from and the man had just assumed he was from upstairs in the business. Gilbert had told him, however a few moments ago it was best the Ludwig really not know who or what he was until he truly asked. Once again, he was going to have to lie.

"Better not, I'm not popular with my family, best not anger Arty!" Alfred laughed, rubbing the back of his head as Yao walked onto the elevator and scrutinized Alfred as if he had seen him before somewhere. Ignoring the Chinese's presence the two blondes continued their conversation.

"I thought you said you didn't know why he acted the way he did…"

"Well, uhm, I'm not on particularly bad terms with Matthew. Just Arthur and maybe Francis."

"Why do you seem to be the only one in the family that doesn't live here?" Ludwig was actually curious about this one.

"I moved away to go to Law school." A lawyer… So what the fuck was this really about if not a promotion? Where they suing him for something? Or maybe he was here for the promotion and… Well, just ask.

"So what are you doing in this line of business then?" If there was one thing Ludwig was good at, it was concealing his mistrust of people. Not that he would be expected to trust this man already anyway.

"Oh you know, one thing leads to another and you find yourself doing stuff you never would have imagined in a thousand years." The American chuckled again.

"Yeah, if things had gone my way I would have been a professional designer, aru." Yao chipped in, sighing. Finally at his floor, the Chinese man stepped off and was replaced by… Yong-Soo…

"Hey! A new face!" Yong-Soo held up his hand for a high-five and was enthusiastically met with Alfred's reply of one. "What's your name?"

"Alfred F. Jones! Pleased to meet ya!" They shook hands and Yong-Soo then began his usual pestering Ludwig, only this time amplified by Alfred's occasional laugh and joining in.

By the end of the elevator ride Ludwig was ready burst on both of their asses and in order to make a speedy getaway from Yong-Soo, tossed Alfred over his shoulder and dashed away into the mess of cars.

"Wow Ludwig! At least you work _with_ interesting people!" Alfred laughed, apparently not even caring that Ludwig was hauling him like a sack of potatoes to the nearest subway entrance. Once they were down in the station though, Ludwig dropped Alfred back to his feet and the American smoothed out his clothes. "You're a real strong guy, ain't cha?" The German didn't answer and the two carried on to buying tickets for the train, which, apparently Alfred didn't have his wallet with him, it was with his stuff. And when Ludwig asked where his stuff was he said "At your house." The taller blonde snorted at him and bought his ticket, handing it to him.

"Don't lose it." When Ludwig walked away to go find the correct train, Alfred lagged behind a little bit, folding his hands in front of him as he did in prayer.

"Cerviel, it would mean a lot to me if you just fabricated some clothes or whatever for me at Ludwig's house. He kinda wanted to know where my wallet was and I just said it was with my stuff and he said 'well where is your stuff', sooooo… Yeah…" He unfolded his hands and put them in the pockets of his coat. It wasn't like the hand thing was necessary for prayer, but Alfred was always like that.

"_You idiot."_ Alfred heard Gilbert's voice in his head, _"But fine." _the cranky Principality said.

"Thanks." Alfred replied happily, quickening his pace to walk next to Ludwig on the platform. "Yo man!" Ludwig nodded in greeting, not wanting to mention Alfred's talking to himself back there, finding it potentially rude.

The train arrived and the two walked in, followed by many others until it was impossible to turn around without accidentally hitting someone in the process. There was a couple of teenagers making out next to Alfred. He entertained himself by making faces at them, sticking his tongue out at them and being just rude in general. Ludwig watched him with contempt as he did so, how was _this_ man his boss?

There was a slight twitch of Ludwig's lips, however, when the two turned to glare at him. Alfred just gave them his winningest smile and chuckled awkwardly.

"Don't stop on my account." He looked to Ludwig, "Aren't they a cute couple." The German looked away and did not answer, not wanting to be drawn into the situation should the teens choose to turn violent. They in the end just mumbled some rude comments about Alfred and stood quietly until their stop came. Once it did, they both glared daggers at Alfred before stepping off. "I'm making friends already, eh Ludwig?" Said man had no comment on the matter and just dropped his head to examine his shoes in peace. It was then he felt Alfred poke his cheek and he raised his head slowly in exasperation.

"What?"

"We're like the only ones on the train, c'mon talk." Unbidden, Ludwig could feel the skin around his eyes tighten and he sighed.

"If we must. What about?"

"Well, uhm, what do you once you're off?"

"Aren't you coming home with me to bare _witness_ to my activities?" In other words, I don't want to talk right now, so shut up.

"Uh… Okay, what about your family then, got any siblings?" Now Ludwig felt his chest tighten and eyes narrow at Alfred.

"I did." He answered plainly.

"Did?"

"Did."

"I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault." Maybe now Alfred wouldn't be so inclined for conversation.

"What about your dad?" Well, his sources said no, this was not to be so.

"I had one."

"Had?"

"**Had**." Ludwig was close to punching the man, but it went against what he believed in.

"Damn… I take it you _had_ a mother once too?"

"No."

"Was that sarcasm?"

"I never knew my mother. She died when I was six months old."

"Is _anyone_ in your family still alive?" Ludwig felt the question highly offensive, but nonetheless was going to answer. To be honest, he had to really think if he did though.

"I have two cousins." He informed Alfred after thinking about it for the better part of two minutes.

"Oh, yippee! What are their names?"

"Roderich and Vash."

"They married?" When was the stupid questioning going to end? Ludwig sighed loudly to get across just how annoyed he was by this exchange, but either Alfred didn't understand it or just didn't care, because he kept staring at him for an answer.

"Roderich is married and Vash is not, though he adopted a daughter a few years ago, I think."

"You think?"

"Yes! I dink! I don'd really talk to my family, Alfred!" The American took a step back from the fuming German, "If I **died** dey probably voultn'd efen _know_ undil Elizeveta kickt Roderich oud of de haus again!" By the end of that, Alfred had a fine layer of saliva coating his face and had stepped back at least two more steps because Ludwig had unknowingly advanced on him.

"Could you repeat that? I couldn't understand you." Okay, Alfred was sure Ludwig's head was about to explode by how red it got or maybe at least he was going to end up punched. Instead, Ludwig about faced and tore out of the train that had reached the last stop, determined to leave the annoying man in the dust. "Wait! Come back! I'm sorry!" Alfred called, catching up to him and putting a hand to Ludwig's shoulder. The German easily maneuvered it off and sped up his pace, practically sprinting out of the subway and leaving Alfred far behind.

Or, at least, he thought he did, he was still running towards his house when Alfred just up and _appeared_ right in front of him.

"Hold up for a second!" The two collided and went tumbling to the freezing sidewalk, rolling about for a minute and ending up in a very small, snowy yard. In the end, Alfred was sitting astride Ludwig's torso and leaning into his face. He began to say something, then Ludwig struggled, trying to remove himself from this very uncomfortable situation but found that his strength was oddly overridden by Alfred's. "I'm sorry I offended you, Ludwig." Alfred sat up completely and just laid his hands on Ludwig's broad chest. "I've never been one known for his tact." he said with a small smile, "Everyone also says I have some major problems when it comes to reading the mood of situations. So uhm… Forgive me and say this didn't happen?"

With his head marinating in the cool and refreshing snow, Ludwig sighed again, this time a bit more peacefully.

"Fine. Can you get off me now?" Ludwig asked calmly, Alfred jumping right off him for him to stand up. Once he did, Alfred aided him in patting the snow off his back and the two continued towards Ludwig's home. Surprisingly, it turned out that Ludwig lived at the very top of a tall apartment building, in the "penthouse" so to speak.

When they arrived at the top floor, there was a small vestibule to Ludwig's room and sitting in front of the door were two suitcases.

"Oh hey, my stuff, yay!" Alfred said with a grin, picking up his baggage and moving aside for Ludwig to unlock and open the door.

For an "apartment" the place was huge, it even had a small upstairs area, once they stepped in Ludwig said "Forgive the disarray my home is in, give me a few minutes to clean up." Alfred had no living idea just _what_ the German meant by "disarray". The place was immaculately clean and sterile, every surface shined with health (he was pretty sure he saw the carpet sparkle)! As his mouth hung open and he gaped (dropping his suitcases to the floor), he didn't notice Ludwig as he quickly whipped around the room, picking up some magazines under other stacks of them to go stash them elsewhere. When he came to and shook his head to regard the German he was wiping down the beautiful granite countertops, making them even shinier somehow.

"Take a seat if you wish." Ludwig told him and Alfred looked at the black tile floor he was standing on with his snowy boots then to the white carpet (that really was white). Walking over to the door, he took his shoes off and found himself staring at a picture that looked strangely like Gilbert (or to him, Cerviel). On the other side of the door was another picture, Ludwig _smiling_ with his arm flung around a short man with red-brown hair. It was amazing just what a smile did for Ludwig's face, he didn't look the least bit intimidating. Deciding to ask Ludwig about the pictures later, Alfred took a careful step onto the white carpet and made sure he wasn't tracking any dirt with him or anything. He had the feeling that if he was, Ludwig was likely to suffer a brain aneurism by the vigor he was showing in cleaning everything in sight.

To stay out of the way, Alfred did take a seat on the fine leather couch in front of a large plasma screen TV. It looked as if it had never been used a single day in its existence. Then something caught his eyes, a yellow tennis ball sitting innocently in the middle of the floor. What in the world was that for? It seemed odd for such a no-nonsense man to have something like a tennis ball just laying around. Alfred looked up from it to ask to find that Ludwig was nowhere in sight.

There was a sudden loud noise and it reminded him of a stampede along with something Alfred hadn't really imagined existed, laughter from Ludwig. Then "_Los_!" Standing to see what was going on, the American quickly got his answer about what the noise was. Three large dogs were running towards him, Ludwig standing at a door behind them with a smile on his face. Alfred turned and made to run away, it was scary to see a German Sheppard, Doberman and Golden Retriever coming at you at once. He didn't get much of a chance though because the dogs surrounded him, the Doberman and German Sheppard growling and barking, the retriever just looked confused but like it wanted love.

"H-Hi doggies! Nice to meet you!" Alfred was pretty sure having pets in this place period was against the law for this place, which surprised him that Ludwig was enticed to break the law for his pets.

"I hope you don't mind dogs, Alfred." The German gazed at his dogs in a bewildered way, they were acting so weird. Usually they were just wary of strangers, never did he usually have to deal with them being so loud or having an open distaste for someone.

"I love dogs just… Uhm…"

"_Sitz_." All three of the dogs planted their butts immediately and Ludwig patted each of their heads. "This is Berlitz." Ludwig indicated the Doberman, "Blackie." The German Sheppard, "And this is Aster." The dog lover scratched her ears and she began to jump up and down, licking his face. It was obvious which of the dogs was the youngest and "daddy's little girl". "They are all friendly and will not bite unless I tell them to." He returned his gaze to his lovely, waiting pets "_Voraus_." the tone of his voice was light and the dogs stood, Aster and Blackie gathering around Ludwig for attention.

"Your dogs really seem to like you."

"Why wouldn't they?" Ludwig quirked an eyebrow at him and Alfred laughed.

"I don't know. Hah!"

"Am I expected to cook for you as well?" Ludwig asked, walking for the kitchen and the two dogs following him while Berlitz lowered herself to the carpet for some rest.

"Only if you want." Alfred really wasn't hungry, hadn't been in years. "I'm not hungry."

"It would be rude of me not to make you something while I am eating, though."

"I'll just take some coffee if you have it." Ludwig nodded at the request and started up the coffee maker while he pulled out a pot to fill with water, he was going to boil some sausages. While the water heated and the coffee brewed, he walked over to the fridge (dogs still at his heels) and pulled out a container that apparently held cubed steak. His girls' tails all wagged and they made excited noises.

"Berlitz, _komm, bitte_!" Ludwig called, Alfred, from his better viewpoint, watched Berlitz wearily push herself to her feet and pace to the kitchen. Upon closer inspection of her black fur, it was grey in some places, slightly, Alfred wondered just how old she was. When she walked into the kitchen, Ludwig knelt with a few cubes of beef in his hand and fed them to her gently. "_Nur du und ich, werden wir einen Spaziergang später gehen_."

The big dog licked her owner's face and Ludwig scratched her behind her cropped ears, he then motioned for her to leave and she went from the kitchen back to her place in the living room to lay back down. For the other two dogs, Ludwig stood back up and tossed the pieces in the air for the dogs to lunge upwards for them. He motioned for them to leave too when they had all had their treats and the rowdier two went off to roughhouse.

"How old is Berlitz?" the American asked soberly, sensing that this would perhaps be a difficult topic for him.

"She's thirteen." The common Doberman lived to about the age of nine-and-a-half, she was _more_ than old. It was amazing she was moving as well as she was, it was a true testament to just how good a caregiver the man was. Ludwig's easy coldness slid right back into place now that his dogs weren't in the same room. He turned his back to Alfred and went about making his dinner again.

!%!

Across town in another apartment significantly smaller than Ludwig's another blonde was going about his nightly routine. Only, he had a cat instead of dogs. It was a really fat cat with a bobbed tail and most people swore that it was a mini bear when they saw it. Matthew spoiled the thing positively rotten.

Right now though, Kumajirou was not the focus of his attention. In his living room were two pictures sitting on a short bookshelf, he was sitting on a stool talking to them.

"Gilbert, your brother's kind of a jerk. I only ever say things like 'hello' or 'goodbye' and he was just… 'I meant your cousin Alfred'. Asshole." The already present frown on Matthew's face deepened further and he looked to the other picture. "He didn't even stop to check that you were my brother. If he was going to make fun of me for taking off work to mourn you he could have at least got that right." The twenty-five-year-old sighed sadly. "Its been two years hasn't it, Al? And four for you, eh Gil?" He was silent then, taking off his glasses to wipe the tears at the corners of his eyes. "I still love you both and miss you." Matthew felt something tug at his pantleg and he looked down to the "bear" begging for food with its big, soulful eyes.

Standing, he headed for his kitchen to feed the thing. He suddenly whipped his head to view out the sliding glass door to his balcony. He swore he had seen someone out there staring at him… Someone with red eyes. Sucking on his tongue, he walked over to the door and looked out onto the dark balcony, much to the dismay of Kumajirou. He hummed thoughtfully when he saw something out there, bracing himself against the cold, he stepped out onto wooden structure and picked up a large, white feather. It was strangely warm to the touch and it looked almost like it glowed. Without really knowing why, he carried it inside with him and examined it closely under the light. It was an exquisite white and in great condition, might as well keep it.

As Matthew went about feeding his cat, he didn't notice Gilbert dropping back down from the roof to sit on the railing of the balcony again.

"I miss you too." He mumbled, figuring it was time to check to see how Alfred was doing. Pushing off from the balcony, he disappeared.

!%!%!

Notes:

E Pluribus Unum-Latin-One of Many

Los-German-Go

Sitz-German-Sit

Voraus-German-Go

Berlitz, komm, bitte-German-Berlitz, come, please

Nur du und ich, werden wir einen Spaziergang später gehen-Only you and me, we will go for a walk later.

Second chapter, woot! I don't really have anything else to say about this chapter, but I will explain Gilbert and Alfred's alternate names in the next chapter even though everyone should have a good feel for what is going on with those two. Please review, it gives me a reason to update!


	3. Tell the Truth and Shame the Devil

Tell the Truth and Shame the Devil

While the city's two strengths found themselves occupied by the humans, a great adversary managed to stroll right into their territory. He had heard that a man of great worth was in the vicinity, it was the reason the other two were here, wasn't it? His soft face and "kind" eyes were truly deceptive as he, a great tower of a man, moved among the humans without suspicion.

He had a human name, as most like him did, but he preferred his new name. His new name that was the name of an old one, long destroyed but not forgotten in him. It was a perfect place for him to fill in the end, he performed his job well and now was here to do just that. He would corrupt his enemy's prized possession and return to his comrades with a man who, if he heard correctly, could ensure victory in the long run.

Problem for him was, however, his opposites had already seemed to cloak the man he was here for from him. An irritated sigh escaped him as he realized he was going to be in this wretched, _cold_ place for at least a few days. Shaking in a disgusted way, he couldn't believe he ever enjoyed it on this plane of existence, he was sure he was rid of the endless cold when he died, no such luck apparently.

!%!

"How in the name of all that is holy can you stand this weather?" Alfred yelled ahead to Ludwig as he frantically tried to keep up with the jogging German. It was dark out, the icy wind was blowing and snow fell in great sheets of white. Yet, despite the cold, Ludwig wore but a pair of sweat pants and a long-sleeved shirt (both bright orange and very warm). He looked quite comical in his tight-fitting and inanely colored exercise clothes, similar to an extremely well-muscled highlighter with two dogs at his sides.

"What?" Ludwig called back as the American was close to slipping on several patches of ice. He had to skid to an abrupt stop, to miss Alfred as he did that strange thing of appearing in front of him again. Too irritated to ask how he kept doing that, Ludwig steered Aster and Blackie around him to continue his run and asked again, "What did you say?"

Making sure not to fall behind this time, Alfred tried to keep pace, finding it difficult to do so in his boots, two layers of pants and heavy, winter coat.

"It's freezing out!" Alfred simply said and Ludwig held back the urge to make a snide remark, instead replying with "Yeah?"

"How are you running in this!" He further pestered and Ludwig snorted, his hot breath making a great cloud in the air.

"Under Armour is miraculously warm."

"But you look ridiculous!"

Unable to stop himself Ludwig rebutted with "And looking like a bloated penguin doesn't?"

"What? I do _not_ look like a 'bloated penguin'! Penguins are black and white!" Ludwig didn't respond to that and rolled his eyes, taking a swift turn, Alfred slipping on ice and banging his hip on the sidewalk when he fell. "Damn!" He cursed, Ludwig stopping to look back over his shoulder at him.

"You alright?" The German turned to walk back over to him. Alfred's reaction to the pain made him want to laugh, the man's eyes were squeezed shut and he was tearing as he sat up to rub his abused hip. It was like he hadn't been in actual pain for a long time.

"Yeah." The blonde on the ground croaked, forcing himself to his feet and wobbling a little bit to check his hip.

"You sure?" Ludwig checked, the dogs getting anxious to continue their run, they still had a few blocks to go.

"Yep, just peachy." Alfred lifted his glasses to wipe the mist away from his eyes, "My god it's dry out isn't it?" Just then, a great gust of snowy wind bombarded the two men and the dogs. Ludwig, who had been stopped long enough for his body to cool down, shivered and turned to start running again to counteract this. Alfred just sputtered a little bit as the snow had blown directly into his vulnerable eyes, as Ludwig receded into the evening he snorted "Earth and your damn weather."

Most decidedly, Alfred would have been infinitely grateful if he didn't have to join Ludwig to walk Berlitz later, but it was his job to watch him. It would be a tragedy of someone else got their hands on him. Well, actually, not just a tragedy, but pretty much the end of the world.

!%!

Gilbert had a multitude of other people to check up on while he was on Earth and since he was mainly Alfred's supervisor, he had plenty of free time to indulge this. The first was Francis, not surprisingly, he was sitting alone in his home eating dinner and drinking a glass of wine. Apparently that woman he fancied so much still hadn't accepted his advances and that somewhat annoyed Gilbert. Truly he wished he could do something for the hopeless schmuck… Oh wait… He could!

"Kesesesese!" The plotting principality laughed, jumping into the air and heading to ask a favor of another that resided within the city. As he arrived at the front door of the shop that he frequented in the last days of his life, a disturbing wavelength of power struck him. It made the muscles of his corporeal body stiffen and its hairs stand on end. Apparently Ludwig was worth enough to send a prince to retrieve him, trouble was, though the power was recognizable, Gilbert couldn't say who it was exactly. He really had never met one of the many princes (just knew what their power felt like) so there was no logical reason to recognize it. Humming thoughtfully in his throat, he thought it a better action at this time to warn Alfred and get back to his personal business later. "Amnediel, get up to the roof of Ludwig's building." He ordered, going there himself.

Gilbert spent the better part of five minutes pacing back and forth in the snow and the racing wind. He grumbled to himself about the damn man being late, trying his best to understand that Ludwig needed constantly to be surveyed. Given the ill weather and the fact it was past sunset, Gilbert was guessing Ludwig was jogging his three dogs. His mind wandered slightly to his old life, he wondered if Berlitz was doing well, she would be quite old by now…

The sound of flapping wings and Alfred landed in front of him. Shivering, his arms wrapped around himself; despite what Alfred had told Ludwig earlier, he really _did_ look like a bloated penguin, just a bloated, _blue_ penguin. The sight made Gilbert snigger to himself.

"You look ridiculous." He laughed, looking Alfred up and down.

"Why aren't you cold?" Alfred frantically yelled back over the wind, shivering as his body tried to warm itself up. His superior laughed, the only thing he was wearing was what appeared to be a military uniform (he said it was similar to what he was buried in) and he didn't appear the least bit put out.

"First, I'm of higher rank than you." The albino stuck his tongue out at him cheekily, "Second, this is your first time back on Earth, you're not used to cold anymore. You went two years without concept of temperature." His charge grumbled to himself before asking, "What did you want again?"

"Oh, right," Gilbert started again, "One of the four princes is topside." Alfred's eyes went wide at this announcement, but largely his face was just blank beyond that. Of course he had been told of the princes, he had _memories_ of the princes that were not his own, but he himself had never met one. Gilbert smiled as the look of bewilderment completely took over his face, "Still haven't figured out how to separate your memories, Amnediel?" he chuckled to himself.

"No, but… All the same, which one is it?" Gilbert shook his head in answer.

"I wouldn't know, Luci can't leave, Levi is bound at the bottom of the Ocean, his only influence on humans being that 'Bloop' thing…"

"Beliel was killed eons ago and Satan… Hang on, why is the devil mentioned twice?"

"Luci is the name we know him by in heaven." Gilbert rolled his eyes, "His other name... It's complicated. His other name is more of a concept that he came to embody. Satan existed before Luci was cast out and he simply took upon that concept. There really are four separate things, but Luci is now regarded as both himself and Satan."

"As if that's not confusing…"

"Either way! One of the princes is _here_-"

"Which one though! The devil can't come up here, Beliel was destroyed… But I can't see this being Leviathan. Isn't he a big worm or something?" Gilbert was swiftly becoming annoyed with Alfred's useless questions.

"Sea monster…" Gilbert corrected, deadpanning.

"Worm, sea monster… Same thing." Alfred grinned, his counterpart rolling his eyes.

"Don't bother about figuring out who, point is you have to keep Lutz safe, make sure he and that abomination never meet." Gilbert turned to leave.

"Did you just call him Lutz?" Alfred questioned, tipping his head curiously to the side as he thought of the picture hanging by Ludwig's doorway inside.

"You're hearing things." The albino shot at him, making to leave again only to be stopped by another of Alfred's incessant questions.

"How long have you been dead?" Gilbert looked over his shoulder at him, his eyes narrowed irritably, Alfred chuckled, "Don't get your feathers in a bunch, you know I died two years ago."

"How is it any of your business?"

"You know that all of his family is dead?" Not wanting this dialog to continue on any further, a gloved fist rushed up to meet Alfred's face. The blonde man found himself floored on the snow-covered, concrete roof of the building. His surprise was prominent on his face, just as the dark, oxygen-starved blood was against the white snow. But Gilbert's face, anger was there, Cerviel was not known to be the most kind of angels. He was the ever vigilant angel of cheats and the perception of the world by others; the ruler of the angelic order of the Principalities. It was difficult at times for Alfred, Amnediel, to keep this in mind; he was nothing more than one of the twenty-eight rulers of the moon, the incarnation of peace, love and happiness.

"I know that his family is all dead." Cerviel's voice ground out of Gilbert.

"You're his brother, right?" Alfred tipped his head curiously to the side, blood dripping from his face to the snow. He found it odd that Gilbert had been assigned to watch over Alfred for this mission. Usually, the three heading the host tried to keep dead family members away from the living ones… Considering how close Alfred had ended up to the bulk of his family on this one, he supposed even the original three still could make mistakes.

"His mother died before his first birthday, his father, six years ago and **I** died four years ago." Gilbert snorted at the significantly weaker angel laying on the ground, "Our cousins don't even count as family in my book. He alvays vontert vhy I coult nefer schtant Roderich, de be-damnt freeloater! Ahll de family efer dit vas use my liddle, naïve bruder, Elizeveta geds mat, 'oh I can jus schtay vid Ludwig, he von'd mint'!" Alfred was getting the feeling this little tirade was meant less for his ears and more for his whole family's. He also guessed correctly that Gilbert never had the chance to say any of this before his death. Slightly, he was a little bit sad he couldn't understand the man terribly well, "De zat pard ist, he doesn'd mint! He's a perfecd liddle soldier, jus ahs our _Vater _vandet him to be! He can'd zay 'no' to family! Efen if dey hafn'd acdet like family in years! A notion of doing zomeding oud of de ortinary scares him! He's too fucking afrait to goh afder _anyding_ dat vill make him happy! Ahll of id ist our _Vater_'s fauld…" Despite his trouble understanding, Alfred was pretty sure all of those things were negative reflections on his and Ludwig's father. Angels did have the gift of tongues after all.

"You know you can't blame him for all of that. What did you ever do to make him better?"

"I _trite, _I dit… Und afder he dite… Id vas easier to talk to him, he vas less of a robod, bud he ist damaged _schtill_." Gilbert's anger was swiftly draining from him, pity for his brother softening his tone. Meanwhile, Alfred found it safe to stand back up.

"He seems normal to me."

"But stiff, inhuman… Screwed up by a monster of a man who I am happy is dead." Alfred blinked at him, surprised by the two insults in the same breath.

"So, you see your brother as screwed up, inhuman, naïve, and a coward?" The blonde wiped the blood from his nose, "Maybe we shouldn't kill him after all." Gilbert looked away from him, ashamed of his own words against his brother.

"No… It needs to come to pass, I just wish his life could have been better." It was then, that the tiny, little, hardly-used light-bulb in Alfred's head flickered on.

"Cerviel… I have a promise to make to you."

"And what's that?" He snorted at the American.

"I'm going to make your brother happy if it kills me… Well, again."

Another derogatory snort, "You can try, he's got… What's today, the twentieth?" Alfred nodded, "He's got five days to live." Gilbert smirked, "As much as I want my brother to be happy, it won't happen."

"You doubt an angel of happiness?" Alfred grinned optimistically.

"I don't doubt your powers, brother, I doubt your abilities to sway a mountain using but the strength of your body." Gilbert splayed his wings, making ready to leave.

"Cerv, I've made _Arthur_ laugh." Gilbert looked over his shoulder to him then, sighing, his breath not even clouding the air.

"Ludwig has five days to live. Only five. Then we have to kill him. Do. Your. Job." Cerviel's silver wings beat once in the wind and he was gone.

Alfred wiped his nose one last time, he had returned home with Ludwig after walking his two dogs; it would be unsettling for him to return bloody. As he began his walk back to the door inside, he continued to check his coat for blood spots, not noticing the man in front of him until a click. His feet stopped dead at the sound, it was the last sound that he heard in life and there was enough human instinct left in him to prickle his skin. His heart sped up to what most people would call the normal rate and he felt like he would pass out if he could. Carefully, he lifted his eyes to Ludwig, who would have looked hilarious if not for his face and the gun trained on Alfred.

"You're going to kill me?" Ludwig accused.

"Whoa, whoa, put the gun down." The angel's hands flew up, palms open to his interrogator.

"What did I do to you? What did I _ever_ do?"

"Nothing. I'm not going to kill you." Alfred took a tentative step towards his host, eliciting a very angry, "Schtay righd dere!" and a gunshot fired up into the air. The American's legs locked up again, staying his breathing.

"If you aren't going to kill me, what the hell was that about? I only have five days to live?" Ludwig pressed, making sure to annunciate very clearly.

"I'm not. But you still only have five days to live Ludwig." Any pretense at being truly scared left Alfred as he spoke those words. He relaxed and stood up straight, putting his hands in his pockets casually. "Nothing can change that."

Now it was Ludwig's turn to be the deer in the headlights, he was breathing harder, eyes fixed on Alfred's face.

"How do you know that?" His deep voice ground out through his defiantly clenched teeth.

"I said I was from 'upstairs-upstairs', remember?" Ludwig's breathing ceased for a moment, his heart skipping a beat in his chest.

"You're lying! You really think I'd believe you?" He yelled at the now sympathetic looking one.

"No, but!" Some manner of cheer reentered Alfred's voice and he spun on his heel, stepping gingerly through the snow, "I can prove it to you! Ask me anything!" When the German's brow wrinkled he just smiled.

"You are not changing the subject. Why am I going to die in five days, _if_ what you say is true?" The shorter blonde groaned with boredom, looking down at the footprints he was leaving in the snow.

"You are going to die because you _have_ to. What other reason do you need?"

"Nobody!" The human started loudly, making Alfred flinch back from the openly hostile objection, "Nobody _has_ to die! Death _happens_. How long you live is determined by how well you take care of yourself and stay out of trouble."

"You really believe that?" Alfred tipped his head to the side, "Even after all your immediate family has died?"

"Yes. Neither of them needed to die. My mother was just unlucky, my brother was an idiot and my father made too many enemies in life." Ludwig snorted, his arm beginning to tire of holding the gun up. "I lived thinking I didn't have any choice in anything until my father died. I know I have a choice now and I am **not** going to let you take that from me." Alfred shook his head and turned his back to him, pacing to the raised edge of the building.

"Ludwig," He sighed and looked over his shoulder at him, knowing that this would be a hard and painful point to drive home, "I'm sorry but you really_ don't_ have a say in this one."

"It's my life!"

"No, it's borrowed. One day everyone must die and give their life to something else." Alfred corrected, "Whether it's in my service, eternal rest, demons, or simply handing your life over so someone else can be born." He then shook his head, the worst part about his explanation on the tip of his tongue, "And yes, Ludwig, everyone can avert their own death, many humans do it every day; your will to live is powerful and one of the most miraculous things on this planet. But you, Ludwig, don't have a choice."

"That's not true! You just said that everyone can cheat death."

"You can't." Alfred swallowed the growing nervous lump in his throat, "From the moment you were born, this was how you were going to die." Alfred leapt up onto the ledge of the building, looking down at the cramped alleyway far below. "You can't get out of this one. Other people can choose but **you can't**." Alfred's solid blue stare bored deep under Ludwig's skin and the now shaky hand holding the gun dropped its contents to the ground.

"Why don't I then?" Ludwig's yells were a piteous mix of anger, grief and defiance at the sheer unfairness of this situation, "Am I not worth it? Am I in some way inferior to everyone else in this world?"

"You _are_ worth it." Alfred was still staring down off the building, his answer was barely even mumbled, Ludwig still caught it over his distraught words.

"If I am so worth it, why do I have to die?"

"Because _this_ you is important." Alfred lifted his head to watch the snow blow by, vaguely he wondered what the moon looked like tonight.

"What do you mean _this_ me?" The German's eyes were misty and it tore at Alfred's soul to see such a big man so reduced.

"Your soul has been down here on Earth for _eons_. You've been reincarnated again and again because you have never been quite satisfied with life. You are a soul that is after heaven's own heart, you know."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Your soul has known that there is always more to learn. You've strove through all of your lives to experience and now that you are one of the oldest souls on Earth, it is time to put its infinite knowledge to work." Alfred grinned, gleefully, spinning on his heel again, towards Ludwig, only problem was… Well, Alfred has never had the best balance in the world and being an angel never really changed that. And there is also the fact that the wind was blowing and the snow on the ledge was compressed to ice and, well, there are a million possible excuses for Alfred to make in this situation to save what little pride he had left, but none of them are the true answer. He just got too excited and fell off the building.

In the split second it took for Alfred to slip off the edge of the building, he saw fear in Ludwig's eyes, even mad at him as he was, he was still afraid for Alfred. Ludwig sprung forward in the snow, closing the space between him and the American in less than a second. Even that was not enough to catch him though, his fingers barely missed the cuff of Alfred's pantleg and he was left to stare down at him as he fell.

"Alfred!" There was a grotesque smack when his body hit the ground, Ludwig felt the icy air penetrate him and freeze him in place; his body bent harshly over the side of the ledge, fingers grasping rebelliously at the bricks to feel less useless. His heart was drumming and his wide, blue eyes could hardly comprehend what had just happened. He had just witnessed a man fall to his death! Yes, that man probably was going to kill him (he did seem awful insane anyway), but that didn't mean he deserved death!

All he could do was stare down at the limp body spattered on the pavement so far below. He was barely a small stick figure with dark smears around him. Ludwig felt his eyes mist up and was swiftly wishing he had never even pointed a gun at him. He closed his eyes against his tears, anger, mortification and a mix of other emotions that he was sure didn't even have names bombarded him like a stampeded of rhinos. What the hell was he going to do about this? He just _killed_ somebody! Okay, more it was Alfred's fault, but if he had just left the subject alone and confronted him _inside_ this wouldn't have ever happened. So it _**was**_ his fault!

"Okay, uhm, just to be clear, that was a _very _slippery ledge and uhm, the wind is kinda harsh." With the voice and light flapping noises around him, Ludwig shot up to stand ramrod straight and stare at the blonde before him. Disbelief and fear were the reigning emotions here. Forget being angry, forget even being _relieved_, this was terrifying shit!

The sight Ludwig beheld was definitely the most surreal thing he had ever experienced in his years. A pair of spotlessly white wings glistened in the night air behind the blonde man. Alfred himself coated in a slick layer of his own blood that was pooled at least a hundreds of feet below. The pair of immaculate wings flapped gently once, blowing what seemed to be a warm breeze on Ludwig's face and he was snapped out of his wide-mouthed stupor.

"Y… You're dead! You just fell and hit! And… What?" Alfred stepped down onto the ledge (a few feet from where he stood only moments prior), folding his wings to his body as he did, they disappearing into his back as he did. Ludwig stumbled backwards at this, falling to the snow, keen on keeping the freakish creature away from him.

"No big deal! This body's technically dead anyway Lutzy boy!" Alfred chuckled to himself, "Though, it did hurt _a lot_, I don't suggest you dying like that. What with being able to feel as all your bones break and organs turn into beaten Jell-O. But then again, I really _don't_ know how you're going to die." Despite all the things that were seriously wrong with the angel's last few sentences, only one thing truly stuck out at Ludwig.

"Did you just call me 'Lutzy boy'?" Forgetting that Alfred was a vastly stronger creature in that second, his eyebrows knitted together irritably, he regarding him as he did his troublesome brother.

"Uhhh… Maybe?" The blonde man smiled nervously down at the taller human, "Look man, can we please continue this conversation inside? I've got blood all over my clothes, my ass is freezing cold and now I'm sore." Eyeing him suspiciously, Ludwig thrust himself up from the snow and took in the fact that Alfred's teeth were chattering, his body shivering violently where he himself seemed little affected by the cold.

"I suppose." Turning his back to Alfred and shooting him one last look, he walked over to the door to the stairwell.

"That's what I'm talkin' about!" The American scurried after the distrusting German and they headed down the half-flight of steps to the door to Ludwig's upper floor. Ludwig barely opened the door before looking Alfred over and considering his carpet.

"Clothes, off."

"Whoa! I know I'm good lookin' but-"

"Shut up and take your goddamn clothes off!" Ludwig was by now in no mood for any kind of joking (not that he usually was). Frowning, Alfred grumbled to himself about him being a grumpy-pants and he stripped down to his boxers and undershirt.

"This work?" He tentatively asked, Ludwig looking at the back of his white undershirt and making a disgusted face at the overt bloodstain thereupon. His eyes roamed from there though, taking in all the blood to be seen on Alfred's back, there wasn't a single scratch on him despite that.

"Yes…" The German stepped out of the way to let the freezing man in first, telling himself not to stare as he passed. As a man who never allowed himself _anything_ though, he indulged himself just this once when Alfred started chattering about something unimportant. _Nice ass._

!%!%!

Notes:

Amnediel-Angel of peace, love and happiness, is in the third sphere (the lowest sphere) of angels and is at the lowest rung in that (just an angel). Is one of the 28 angels of the moon, head of the eighth mansion Alnaza.

Cerviel-Angel of vigilance, cheats and perception, is in the third sphere of angels and is the leader of the choir of principalities (the highest tier of angels allowed to be on Earth). In Jewish myth he is the angel that was sent to help David defeat Goliath.

Angelic Spheres-The ranking system of angels, Third is the lowest, First is the highest. Third Sphere is Angels, Archangels and the Principalities and is the only sphere to be on Earth, they act as messengers to humans. Second Sphere is the Powers, Virtues and Dominions, they are the heavenly governors. First Sphere are the Thrones, Cherubim and Seraphim, heavenly guardians to God's throne.

"Bloop"-A sound of unknown origin detected and recorded many times in the summer of 1997 by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The sound is an ultra-low frequency and _extreme_ly powerful underwater noise heard at a very remote point in the Pacific ocean. It is several times louder than any known living creature but is not man-made and doesn't show any similarities to the sounds created by volcanoes or earthquakes. It has been agreed by many that it is biological in origin, but, the creature would have to be truly _massive_ in order to create such a thing. Do a bit of research if you want and give me your feedback ;)

So, an Antagonist has set foot in our story (once again, it is Russia, but never fear it's a bit different this time, I swear). I really do encourage people that if they have an interest in the strange (and for me slightly terrifying if it ever reappears) to look up the Bloop, an intriguing read. Hope you enjoyed and yeah, I was busy around the holidays so I couldn't get it up as fast as I would have liked, sorry.


	4. De Facto

Okay, here I am, here you are, you are here to read and if you are I trust I haven't jumped a shark yet and this pleases me. I hope I don't disappoint with this chapter, so read on and I hope you like ;)

%!%!%!%

De Facto

"So, you're an angel…" Ludwig began awkwardly, tapping his fingers on his knees nervously. Considering the fact that there was such a thing sitting before him, this opened up his mind to a whole world of questions he had never had cause to think about before. Did he believe there was a God was the biggest in said world of questions. Another biggie was the potential for there to be a hell… And of course was a sin a sin or could one reason their way out of it. If there was a hell and the answer to the last question was no, regardless of the answer to the first, he knew exactly where his ass was going when he bit the dust (at least, according to all those people gathered at the church down the street). Which, in retrospect, really wasn't fair. Oh, who the hell was he kidding, what was _fair_ about anything in his life? Never knew his mother, his whole immediate family was dead, and his only _living_ family never cared for him unless they wanted something; the only man he had a decent relationship with was a total lay about and he sadly lost contact with him through his own selfishness, now he only had five days to live… Just great.

"Yep, sure am." Alfred replied with a smile, wearing another set of clothes that looked exactly like the other set he was wearing earlier. Which, by the way, was a light-brown, three-piece suit with a dark-brown tie (which he had forgone in this case along with the actual coat) and white button-up shirt. All in all, it looked quite similar to Ludwig's own work dress but his suits were only two pieces commonly. He had since changed out of his ridiculous orange jogging clothes and now sported a pair of sweat-pants and a wife-beater. Vaguely, Ludwig wondered at the clothes and why he had two of the same suit, must've been an angel thing. "Is there a problem in that?"

"Aren't you supposed to… Aren't you supposed to _protect_ humans, rather than come down here to-"

"We are the messengers of heaven. I bore you a message you were going to die. But that is not my primary purpose here." Alfred admitted, his eyes fixing on the hostile dogs.

"What is then?"

"Protect you until you die." It seemed quite unnecessary to Ludwig to need this protection if he was going to die anyway.

"What are you here to protect me from? I'm going to die, what if you accidentally protect me from what is supposed to kill me?" At this, Alfred sucked on his tongue, not sure if he should explain the whole thing yet. He would have screwed it up anyway, best to leave that to Cerviel. Which…

"How did your brother die?" he asked, Ludwig looking quite confused by the sudden change of topic.

"Is it any of your business?"

"Oddly enough, yes."

"He was… He was out with his friends, you know, your cousins," As Ludwig spoke he suddenly realized why Matthew had been so angry at him for asking if he enjoyed Alfred's visiting. Alfred was _dead_, an angel, now he felt like a douche bag and reminded himself to apologize to Matthew tomorrow at work. Wait, he had five days left to live, _five_, why was he going to waste it on work?

"Ludwig? Hello?" Alfred waved his hands over the German's eyes, he had zoned off in his thoughts and Alfred was kind of worried.

"Huh? Oh, what?"

"Your brother was with my cousins?" Alfred quirked his brow at him.

"Well… I assumed that Arthur and Francis are your cousins too since Matthew is." Ludwig could feel his ears begin to heat up at the prospect of being wrong.

"Matthew was actually my brother." The shorter blonde corrected, lifting his leg and resting his ankle on his knee. Now Ludwig felt like a really _big_ douche bag. A sudden look came over Alfred, like he had just remembered something he forgotten, "I think my two year anniversary was yesterday now that I think of it." There weren't words to describe how shitty Ludwig felt now, it did explain why Matthew hadn't been at work, he had taken time off to mourn his dead brother. "What's that face?"

"Nothing… Just thinking of people I need to apologize to in the next few days."

"_That's_ what you want to spend your last days on Earth doing? Thinking of all the minor misdemeanors you committed?"

"I figure I might as well considering I won't get a chance to do it later. Maybe it will make up for some of my past sins." The German sighed dismally, going over possible courses of action in his head.

"You have no sins upon you." Alfred quickly examined Ludwig, his brow quirking, "Well, none that really matter anyway." Ludwig lifted his head curiously.

"What?"

"Nothing!" He said cheerily, "You never finished your story."

"Oh, right… Uhm, my brother was out with Arthur, Francis and Antonio from work, they were just, you know, clubbing, being rowdy twenty-somethings. Originally he wanted me to come with him, but I had work early the next morning and I've never been one for such forms of entertainment." Ludwig shrugged, "We don't know what really happened because it was probably when Gilbert went out to take a smoke." At the mention of Gilbert's name Alfred nodded, noting it in his head unbeknownst to Ludwig. "They were clubbing and he just never came back. They found his body in the alley outside the club, a stab wound to his heart." Apparently Ludwig had long become hardened to telling the story as he told it without a single bat of his eyelashes, "His wallet was gone and clothes rummaged through, so the police figured he was just unlucky enough to be near someone that was hard-up for money."

"Did you ever catch his killer?"

"No." He said solemnly, taking a breath a few moments later and turning his gaze back to Alfred, "Why was it important?"

"Oh, no reason." Ludwig's brows knitted together in anger.

"For no reason? Then tell me your story. You're an angel but you said you were a lawyer."

"Well I…" Alfred sighed, sifting through his more human memories which didn't seem like his own anymore. He had eons of inherited memories and the last two years up in heaven had been a very shaking experience, it sometimes was hard for him to call up true, finite memories of his years alive. "I went to law school while I was alive." He shrugged, "Out of state of course…" Continuing his thinking, Ludwig began to notice how hard it seemed to be to recall these things.

"Would how you died be easier to ask information on?" Alfred tipped his head back and stared at the ceiling a smirk on his lips. Was he really so transparent?

"It's a bit easier, I suppose. I was here visiting Matthew and the rest of the family for Christmas." Ludwig winced, he couldn't imagine how painful it must've been for Matthew and his relatives to lose Alfred during the holidays. "And you know, there's always a spike in drunks and the like on and around the holidays." Alfred was smiling now for a reason Ludwig couldn't comprehend, "There was a man driving, had too much to drink and… My best friend," Alfred paused, his face going blank as he remembered his "best friend", amid all the chaos of his mind he had forgotten Kiku… They were on the verge of being more than friends when he had died… He sighed and continued, not wanting to dwell on it, "he was crossing the road downtown, I was out with my cousins and Matthew and, the driver was heading right for him so I, being the hero that I always thought I was, shoved him out of the way." His fingers had laced together in his lap at some point during his relatively short story and his eyes drifted down to stare at them, "It never really occurred to me that I could get hurt, I was the hero of my own story. Chosen for something larger, I was sure… I thought as I lay on the ground and bled out that 'this cannot possibly be it'… Dying where all of my family could see. Well, I died before the ambulance even got there and was dragged off to heaven for training."

"You don't sound like you were very surprised…" Ludwig narrowed his eyes curiously at Alfred, he now seeming to be very stressed as if he had said something he wasn't supposed to. There was silence between the two, causing Ludwig to draw his own conclusions, "You weren't surprised… You knew… How?" For a minute, it seemed like there was sweat beading on Alfred's down-turned brow. In the end he looked up to Ludwig and laughed.

"All in good time!" That sounded like something cool to say. Cool to say, but it further vexed the German sitting on the couch. "But! We can move on to talking about better things!" Alfred received a deadpan stare from Ludwig, making his Adam's apple bob as he swallowed nervously. "Uhm… Do you have a girlfriend?"

"No."

"Best friend?"

"No."

"'Special friend'?"

"**No**." Alfred was definitely beginning to see a pattern here.

"Boyfriend?" Ludwig choked a bit at this one but in the end stumbled through with the usual answer of a very irritated "No." When Alfred smiled Ludwig immediately turned red and looked away.

"_That's_ what you count as a sin, eh?" The thing about angels, a sin turned up as a black mark on a soul, a subjective sin looked different from a true sin. A subjective sin was like the little kid stealing a crayon in second grade and being caught. A true sin, usually it was only covered by cold-blooded murder.

"Isn't it?" Ludwig dared to ask, averting his eyes to examine the couch. Alfred laughed heartily, his eyes positively sparkling with merriment.

"Nope! Well, not to people who don't believe it is!"

"What?" The taller blonde looked deeply confused and Alfred scratched the back of his head and neck in thought.

"That's the thing about sins. Many are subjective." At the blank stare he received, Alfred realized it probably never even occurred to Ludwig what he thought about his "condition" before today. "To you, well, your assumptions of it being a sin are unsure at best, am I right?" A jerky nod and Alfred continued, "To a person that sincerely believes what does it for them is wrong, yes, it can be called a sin upon their soul. Believe me, there are people that think sexual desire _period_ is a sin. But for people who know there isn't anything wrong with it, sometimes you think of these people as the attendees of pride parades, it's just a facet of their personality. Nothing more. There's nothing wrong with it."

"Using that logic though… Are you saying that murderers and rapists…" If that was heaven why the hell would he want to go there?

"Oh hell no." Alfred referred back through his memories for how to answer this one, "Well… I told you your soul is really old. _Ancient_, even by my superior's standards. Soldiers… They are a very gray area. They most of the time make up for their sins in lifetimes."

"Reincarnation…" Ludwig assumed and Alfred nodded his head.

"But, the people you mentioned. The ones that take pleasure in harming others… They do end up down below." Alfred shook his head, plagued by drudged up memories of damned souls, "If when their final judgment comes, they aren't sorry for what they have done and don't want to make up for it… They are sent to be tortured. Of course that's not the only way you end up in Hell, just one of them." His head tipped back then, he examining the ceiling, "A long time ago, there used to be a way out too… A way out with your soul intact, without having to become a demon." Sifting through the ancient memories embedded within him he remembered an angel so terrifying to behold it made him shrink away.

"How was that?" Ludwig asked out of sheer curiosity, examining the thoughtful face of his counterpart. Truth be told, he was very relieved to hear what Alfred had said, it still didn't assuage his fears completely, however.

"A frightening angel, his visage able to send even high-level demons cowering." Alfred chuckled at the look Ludwig made, obviously finding this information very unpleasant. "He was one of the kindest though. One of the few angels able to move freely in Hell. He redeemed the flayed souls of those who paid for their sins."

"Is he no longer doing his job?" Now the German looked disapproving, someone so important abandoning their post?

"An explanation for another time!" The dead American clapped his hands together and stood. "You're probably tired."

"One more question."

"'Kay!"

"What kind of angelic name is Alfred?" Ludwig crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back all the way into the couch. "If I also remember correctly, no man can become an angel." An eyebrow climbed up his forehead and Alfred seemed to be groping for an answer.

"Well… Uhm… My human name is Alfred… My angelic name is Amnediel."

"What about my other question, Amnediel?" The eyebrow quirked slightly higher and with it Alfred's nervousness.

"Once again, answered in time!" He laughed and tugged at the back of his head, Ludwig's expression decidedly less than amused. "Hey, I'm the powerful one here, I only answer your questions because I'm feeling generous." Alfred's half-assed attempt at being intimidating fell flat on the bulky German.

_Or maybe you're just a bumbling fool?_ Ludwig supposed in his head, couldn't he have been given well, a _better _guardian angel? Or even better, a guardian angel that was trying to _protect_ him from his impending death? Apparently that was too much to ask for in this situation.

During this time of introspection, Ludwig had been giving Alfred his icy-blue stare and it was beginning to make him squirm. Two millennia of memories he might have had, but humanity was indeed still fresh within him.

"Explain it another time. When you explain _everything_ else you're avoiding." Ludwig stood up from the couch and stalked out of the room. Alfred did well to notice the tension held in his shoulders and muscles. Most of his fear of Alfred and death had drained from him and was replaced by anger and maybe plots at how to get out of his fate. Internally he sniggered at Ludwig's ability to go through two stages of grief in the same hour. If all went well, he would be at acceptance by tomorrow morning!

Taking a deep breath, he stretched out onto Ludwig's couch and stared at the ceiling, his mind flittering away to how much he missed dreaming.

%!%

Out in the snowy city, the behemoth enemy to Cerviel and Amnediel walked the streets, going through the smartphone he had for information.

Target: Ludwig G. Beilschmidt, a picture was provided next to his name along with his height, weight, occupation and personality description. The latter was most certainly not needed as the Prince knew what he was to Heaven. His address was there but the man was smart enough not to go directly there, his work would be easier. The angels on his shoulder would be less likely to put up a fight where the public eye was.

A particularly piercing cold wind got to him and he shivered violently. Screw Earth's weather, it sucked! His shivering continued after he pocketed his phone and was made worse when a man poked out of the shop he was standing near and chucked a bucket of dirty mop water on him. The noise he released would have been quite terrifying to most everyone and only served to surprise the Chinese man in the doorway.

"Oh my god! I am so sorry, aru!" He grabbed the disgruntled demon and hauled him into the building without a second thought. As Yao did so, the platinum blonde stared at him, incredulous that a _human_ would dare touch him! Much less throw water on him and invite him into his home. "Here, let me take your coat, aru." Yao held out his hands for the stranger's beige coat and the taller stared at him suspiciously. "Uhm…"

"Ivan Braginski, da." He told Yao, taking off his coat and handing it to him. Perhaps he would guilt the human into letting him spend some time here. He wasn't going to be very long anyway and he didn't want to stay out in the cold despite the fact it couldn't really affect him. Quickly looking for something on the man's soul that he could use, he then began to rifle through other things about him and found _exactly _what he was looking for.

"Wang Yao." Yao smiled at him and took his coat, "Again, sorry for the bucket of water, aru." The look the Chinese man received threw him off a little bit, it was a kind smile, but there was definitively an underlying malice to it.

"I am only in town for a few days. I have nowhere to stay, da." Ivan informed him, Yao's expression quickly going to offended. He opened his mouth to speak, but found the big man invading his space before he could protest, "I could… Make it worth your while, da?" The shorter man's heart raced when he locked with the violet orbs so far above him. Demons, especially ones of _his_ standing were strangely persuasive.

"I-I…" A hand rubbed over his groin and he gasped, trying to convince himself to lean away from the pleasure.

"You want to, da." A rougher rub and Yao moaned, shivering and leaning against the hand.

"O-Okay… Just stop with the teasing, aru!" He hauled himself away, face beet-red, "I-I'll give you a tour, just let me get you a towel. Wait there." At the Russian's nod, Yao slunk off into the back rooms of his littlest brother's dessert shop.

Okay, yeah, he had just taken in someone who was most likely a prostitute, but hey, he wasn't really paying him money. Just giving him a place to stay. And he was attractive, and Yao hadn't actually had real sex in over a year. Oh the sad life of a man whose wife left him after figuring out which team he truly batted for. Even sadder was even though he had his job with the company, he was forced to live with his seriously irritating (and stalkerish) cousin Yong-Soo and his youngest brother Kiku. Speaking of which… He was going to have to come up with a legitimate reason to give the both of them why Mr. Braginski was staying with them… He wasn't going to lie to them and say he was his boyfriend, come on, Yong-Soo might've been stupid, but Kiku was far from such an adjective. Too was gone the possibility of saying he was a tenant for the empty room they had upstairs (previously occupied by Yao and Kiku's little sister Meimei), as he was only staying for a few days and would probably refuse to pay rent. Then again… The paying rent thing wasn't an all together outrageous thing to ask for. Braginski could stay here and perform his end of the bargain… Or not, he would probably refuse to do that if Yao asked him to pay…

"Ai-ya!" He loudly yelled to himself, yanking at his hair with the massive coat thrown over one arm. It was settled, in the event Braginski had money he was going to ask for payment of that kind because it was the _right_ thing to do. Not necessarily the thing he wanted though.

"Yao-kun, is something wrong?" Kiku asked, on the stairs that lead up to their home. The Asian man jumped and looked over his shoulder at his little brother.

"Kiku, uhm, we're going to have a friend stay a few nights here, aru." Yao explained, putting the massive coat on a hanger and arranging it so it was in front of the air-conditioner. With this news upon him, Kiku took upon a stern expression. This was _his_ home after all. Yao and Yong-Soo were living there out of the goodness of his heart (and the willingness to forfeit storage space for extra money). "Dui bu qi didi." His older brother apologized in the tongue of their mother. Kiku sighed and put his hands on his hips.

"Where is he?" They walked out into the main shop area to behold Ivan looking hungrily at some of the sweets. In fact, he was eyeing them _so_ intensely, it was as it was the first time he'd even _laid eyes_ on food in years.

Which, really, it was. Food was most decidedly a perk of Earth for sure.

"Ivan." Yao gathered the large Russian's attention easily. When the blonde head lifted and laid eyes on Kiku, the smaller man shook like an earthquake had racked his body. There was something conclusively dangerous and just _wrong_ about him. Whether it was his unnatural eye color or the way air seemed to swirl around him, Kiku really couldn't say. "This is my little brother Kiku, he owns the shop." Yao returned his attention to Kiku who was doing his very best to hide his discomfort and the fact that his legs felt frozen in place, "Kiku, this is my friend Ivan, he's only going to be in town a few days, so he just needs a place to crash."

Kiku was _about_ to disapprove and kindly request that Ivan find a different place to stay, but the Russian spoke first. Spoke in a _very_ persuasive, sweet tone at that, "Hello Kiku. I thank you for your hospitality, da." A cute smile and Kiku couldn't help what he said next, "It's good, a friend of my brothers is a friend of mine." Why did he just say that?

"Great, aru!" Yao exclaimed clapping his brother on the shoulder and Ivan removed his eyes back to the Chinese man, freeing Kiku from his demonic gaze, "Follow me Ivan! I'll get you situated, aru!" And upstairs Yao went, followed by the menacingly slow giant who cast a smirk down at the diminutive Japanese boy.

Kiku sighed and rushed for the phone in his dessert shop, dialing the number of his past best-friend's boyfriend and near-boyfriend's brother.

"Kiku… What time is it?" Matthew groaned from the other end of the phone.

"Matthew there is a very… Suspicious fellow rooming here." The Japanese man worried at the phone's cord as he informed his friend.

"It's your apartment, get rid of him." The tired blonde advised in a matter-of-fact tone.

"He's a friend of my brother. Do you know anything about him?" There was silence as Kiku imagined that to be a rather dumb question since he hadn't even given Matthew his name.

"Name please?"

"Ivan Braginski?"

"It sounds familiar… I don't know where from though." Matthew hummed curiously, "I can ask Fidel to run it through his files." A Cuban immigrant serving as a detective always seemed to make Alfred laugh in life so the thought still made Kiku smile.

"Thank you Matthew-kun."

"It's no problem." An awkward silence settled over them, they had refused to talk about Alfred the last time they spoke (the day before his death anniversary). "I guess I'll let you go then…"

"Sorry for waking you, goodbye." Kiku hung up the phone and took a deep breath. He was going to have to find _some_ way to get some peace of mind while that monster was around… It occurred to him that he would probably be driven to his brother's level of superstition (or Arthur's even) if he couldn't by conventional means. Steeling his nerves, he walked out from behind the counter and went up the stairs to see what Yao was doing.

"Oh, and this is my room, aru." Yao explained motioning to the fairly simple room with a _ton_ of superstitious charms hanging from various parts of the room and around the doorway. While the charms would do little to actually _stop_ Ivan, he knew they would cause a fuss if he walked in.

"Considering, Yao, we are not going to be… Having fun while I am here, can I take that empty room, da?" He indicated the slightly ajar door at the end of the hallway.

"Well… It's kind of for my little sister Mei if she ever wants to come back, aru." Yao explained, getting an odd look from Ivan. "Mine and Kiku's little sister. She moved out because of… Mei and I have never really gotten along." The Russian nodded, thinking humans petty, but understanding as when he was human… He quickly blocked out the memory, he didn't have a desire to remember his human life. A prince of Hell was what he was now and nothing else beyond that mattered. Yep, forget how much he loved his big sister and how much his younger one scared him. Damn it! "Hello, aru." Yao waved his hand back and forth in front of Ivan's eyes, he had zoned out.

"My head will hit all of the things dangling from your ceiling, though, da." The demon attempted to reason, "And I am not staying here long." After a few moments of thinking Yao nodded.

"You have a point. I will find the air mattress and set you up, aru."

Down the hall in Kiku's room, the Japanese man noted that Ivan didn't even try to look into Yao's room. He had even complained about the charms hanging from his ceiling, maybe it would keep him from coming into his room if he made a few of his own and hung them from the ceiling. Sure, it was barely even an annoyance, but at the possibility of keeping him out, he was willing to do it.

%!%

"You told him?" Gilbert yelled, taking a swing at Alfred and missing, "Vhy!" another swing and Alfred flapped his wings to vertically avoid the punch. Gilbert did much the same and flew up with him, chasing Alfred as he fled the confrontation.

"It's your fault!" Alfred yelled over the wind, doubling his wing-beats to fly out of the reach of Gilbert's hand. "He heard you say we were going to kill him in five days!" The blonde spun around in midair to talk to the still angry albino. He closed his wings allowing himself to fall, Gilbert giving chase downward.

"Dat's vhere you say he vas hearing dings!"

"He held me at gunpoint! What was I supposed to do?" Alfred snapped his wings open, crashing into Gilbert and throwing him off, towards the ground before ascending into the very windy air above the city.

"Ahs if id coult acdually hurd you!"

"If I didn't die or even _bleed_ properly though, wouldn't that have been a big indicator I'm not normal?" The American continued to justify himself, teeth beginning to chatter in the intense cold. The tone in Alfred's voice gave something away and Gilbert rolled his eyes.

"You dit zomeding dat voult hef killt you, ditn'd you?"

"The ledge was icy!"

"Idiot!" Figuring that the hostility was largely over now, Alfred slowed his flying pace, letting Gilbert catch up. Not completely correct in assuming this, however, Gilbert smacked him upside the head and he whined minutely. "I take it he's asking a lot of troublesome questions now."

"Yeah… Can you answer those?"

"No. I am his brother, he shouldn't see me unless it's absolutely necessary."

"But…" The two fell into a comfortable flying position, similar to how geese fly together, Gilbert's wings riding the wake of Alfred's.

"But what?" The albino groused.

"I'll screw it up! I know I will!"

"I'm not here to hold your hand, Amnediel. You need to firmly step into the shoes left behind for you." Gilbert explained, attempting to calm the angel who was clearly unsure about how to do his job.

"Should I even _answer_ his questions?"

"What are they?" Knowing his brother, Gilbert was banking on them being some pretty important ones.

"Why am I here protecting him, but not protecting him from his death? Why doesn't he have a choice in the matter where others do? He _knows_ that humans can't become angels…" Like everyone, there were some things you didn't want to be right about. This was one of them.

"Don't explain any of those unless he truly needs to know."

"How will I know? I already want to tell him everything. I feel like it's all important for him to know."

"And you were supposed to be a lawyer?" Gilbert sniggered.

"Cerviel, I'm serious."

"That's a first." When the American pouted he sighed and went easier on him, motioning at the same time for Alfred to bank and turn them around back towards the city. "You will know if the prince ever comes face to face with him. If that happens he will have to see that I exist anyway. I _might_ explain it if you fuck up doing so." A few flaps and Gilbert added, "But if I have anything to say about the well-being of my brother is that that demon is coming nowhere near him." Alfred nodded and the two flew in relative silence, each trying to remotely catch hold of the evil aura belonging to their enemy. But each time they barely felt it it disappeared again, not like it wasn't expected though, this person was a prince of Hell of all things.

So, as the two did their rounds it was stupid to think that talk would not occur…

"Gilbert… Can I call you that?" Alfred inquired, looking curiously back at his mentor.

"No."

"Okay, Cerviel then… Who was it that came to you?"

"You mean to tell me?"

"Yeah." At the confirmation, Gilbert sighed, "Melahel. Really disconcerting Swede. Somewhat wish _he_ was sent to care for Ludwig. Might get him over that whole 'being gay is awkward' thing." Gilbert rolled his eyes at himself, wishing he hadn't been so prideful in life never to have told him he was the same.

"Hey! I'm doing fine!"

"Yeah, yeah, keep telling yourself that. Who was yours anyway?"

"Haniel." Alfred said with a smile and Gilbert's brows went up curiously, "What?"

"Everyone in Heaven made a big stink about finding him." Gilbert shrugged, pointing off in the direction they needed to go next, "I've never met him though, he appeared just as I finished my orientation."

"Oh! You've had charges too?"

"No shit."

"Well you don't have to be rude, about it."

"How else will I get you to shut up?" And it did work… For about two minutes.

"So, why didn't we ever meet while alive?" No answer from Gilbert and Alfred pressed, "I mean… If I remember correctly, Kiku had a best friend named Gilbert who died four years ago." More quiet and Alfred noticed a wrinkle in Gilbert's brow. "And Matthew was torn up about-" Gilbert grabbed the younger angel's ankle and spun him around, throwing him into the top of a concrete building.

"Shut the fuck up!" He flew down to stand over the dazed and confused boy, "Look at me!" Shakily, the blonde did as he was ordered, "Your human life doesn't matter anymore. It just tells you who you have to _avoid_ while on Earth. Strive to be like the one that came before you and forget everything else!"

"Why?"

"Do not ask 'why', it isn't our place." Cerviel _had_ been described to Alfred as being militant by Michael, (too emotional by Gabriel) what a perfect match they had found in Gilbert "Why we didn't meet? It doesn't matter. Life works like that and now we don't have to deal with it anymore."

"You say to forget it, but you clearly still _care_ about Ludwig… So why are you being harsh on me?" The principality grumbled to himself and didn't answer, taking to the air again to continue his rounds. Alfred just figured it best to leave him alone, not wanting to get punched out or be thrown into a building again.

%!%

The next morning with Ludwig was a darker morning than the German had ever had. He had tossed and turned all night, trying to think of things to beg the angel for a second chance. In the end, when I got up to go talk to Alfred at around three, the blonde was nowhere in sight. Now he had moved onto stage four… Depression.

He didn't shower that morning, half-assed brushing his teeth and didn't tie his tie straight. When he walked out of his room, he saw Alfred in the kitchen cooking food.

"Morning Ludwig!" The German just observed him, thinking about how weird it was for an angel to be in his kitchen, cooking him breakfast… "You okay? You look horrible." Ludwig didn't say anything and just ushered him away from the stove. Heavenly being or not, no guest was allowed to cook in this kitchen. Mostly just because the _last_ person he let cook in a kitchen that belonged to him got flour and oil everywhere. But partially because it was rude to make guests cook their own food. "Uhm… Okay."

"I am going to work today." He announced, pushing the bacon and sausage around in the pan for a little bit longer.

"Why? It's so boring!"

"Because I have to set things right."

"With who?"

"Matthew and Arthur." Alfred tipped his head to the side.

"Why those two?"

"I upset Matthew yesterday mentioning you. Arthur… I told you we used to be best friends in high school. He was my only friend."

"Feel sorry for you!" The angel threw his head back and laughed, gaining a very irritated look from his human charge. "But uhm… Go on." He thought he had just lost hope at ever learning more about Ludwig, but miraculously, he _did_ continue.

"We had a falling out when I went to college, but after a few years we were cool with each other again. Then I got work and just stopped caring about my social life." Ludwig lifted the pan and dumped all the bacon and sausage onto a paper towel-covered plate.

"Why the hell would you do that?" Alfred didn't think getting a job was he equivalent of saying goodbye to all his friends. Then again, he never really had the chance to enter the workforce as a lawyer.

"I didn't mean for it to happen. It just did. I forgot to talk to or see Feliciano, if I forgot about him, it went without saying I would forget to call Kiku-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!"

"What?" As he asked, Ludwig picked up a piece of soggy bacon and chewed it.

"Kiku was my friend while alive. Well… More of an almost boyfriend, but, when did you two meet?" This dumbfounded Ludwig to hear, his whole life he had spent less than an arms length away from Alfred. Or maybe slightly more considering that period of a few years where he didn't talk to anyone.

"He was a friend in college, he and Feliciano. Kiku was in the dorm across the hall from us. Its been five years since I made any effort to talk to them."

"Didn't you ever get bored?" Alfred was greatly surprised when Ludwig shook his head.

"No. I had too much work and I was trying too hard to climb the ladder to where I am today. It's all pointless now…" Ludwig swallowed two sausages and a piece of bacon, offering the rest to Alfred.

"I don't eat." He smiled and an eyebrow quirked on the German's face.

"Don't or can't?"

"Don't have to." Ludwig thrust the plate into his hands and left him to his own devices. "I just told you I-"

"Don't waste food!" He called down the hallway, letting his dogs out of the room, "I'll be back in a few minutes." The dogs were all leashed up, and heading for the door.

"Oh, I'll go with you."

"Do you have to?"

"I'm supposed to protect you!" Alfred ate a couple sausages and chewed loudly, "Something bad could happen out there!" Chunks of chewed food flew through the air, causing a look of quiet horror to adorn Ludwig's face. There was a _reason_ he was going to make sure Alfred never ate in his apartment again.

"Stop talking with your mouth full." Ludwig could feel his body shake with fury, he was _scrubbing_ this whole kitchen when he got home from work. To prevent himself from doing so _now_ and further delaying his morning, he turned on his heel and marched out the door. His guest was only too happy to follow him out and into the elevator, still chowing down on the extra breakfast meats.

Heaven forbid if anyone in this building had to meet Alfred (or see that he had dogs on the top floor), Ludwig pressed the close-door button and the ground-floor button and held them. It was nifty knowing the police override for elevators, it skipped all the other floors in between, regardless of if someone had pressed the call button and went straight to the floor he had pressed.

They all left out the door and walked to a nearby tree the dogs using it, Alfred still loudly stuffing his face. Ludwig was suddenly having flashbacks of high school, Arthur complaining about his cousin being the loudest eater in the world. It occurred to Ludwig that this was the very man his friend had spoken of.

With the uptight business man finally finishing up his final task of the morning, he grabbed his keys up in his flat along with his laptop and left. As they walked to the subway station, Ludwig noticed that yet again, Alfred was wearing the same suit. Truly bugging him and he being at his wit's end already, asked "Why do you have a single, repeating suit?"

"It's the suit I was buried in." The pep in his voice surprised the German, but he supposed he should have stopped being surprised about anything by now. "I can't help but wonder who it was that picked it out for me." The two walked in silence after that, Ludwig refusing to think about who was probably going to be picking out _his_ suit when he died. Maybe he would write it into his will what suit to wear. Oh god, he had to write one didn't he? Well who was he going to leave everything to, his dogs? All his money could go to charity for all he cared but some of his possessions he would have rather gone to his friends… A light bulb switched on in his head and realized that problem was solved.

However, at the problem of sixty percent of Alfred's living family he had contact with working in the exact same place as Ludwig was a different kettle of fish.

Stepping out of the elevator, Ludwig looked back to give Alfred a word of advice only to find he was completely missing. His ability to suddenly disappear seemed to be normal to him and so Ludwig wouldn't even bother with asking whenever he chose to reappear. Couldn't help but wonder just why Alfred had chosen then to go "poof".

Matthew then rounded the corner and it made sense, might as well get this over with now, "Matthew." Ludwig caught the young man's attention and he curiously looked up. Distain flashed over Matthew's face for a second and was quickly covered up.

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry about yesterday."

"Oh… Well…" From the looks of things, Matthew hadn't been expecting anything from Ludwig, much less an apology.

"I didn't know." Matthew still at a loss for words, Ludwig continued, "There was this guy that looked a lot like you and he said he was your brother Alfred." Since he was actually close enough and staring Matthew straight on, Ludwig noticed just how similar the two were. Sure, Matthew was smaller, still the same height though and the hair color was a _little bit_ different, but the two could have passed as twins any day. They must've been really close…

"Who was he?" Matthew chose to ask instead of saying "it's okay" because, to him, it really wasn't.

"I don't know. He was really excitable and said he was visiting family in town." When it came to spinning lies, Ludwig was proficient at it. Not as so as Matthew, but passable in the eyes of a man who knew what to look for. Which probably shouldn't have been so because a tick appeared between Matthew's eyebrows. It was ever so slight and probably wouldn't have been picked up if he were talking to anyone else.

"I'm not enjoying this joke, Ludwig." The tone in Matthew's fairly meek voice suggested that he was going to get (passive) aggressive soon.

"It's not a joke. I'm being serious. And I am sorry." Ludwig tried again, realizing he had stepped into a place he didn't want to be.

"Would you tell me it's okay if I said I saw an albino on the street with a funny laugh who tried to get into a fist fight for looking at him weird?" A cold throb started in Ludwig's chest, "Yes, I know Gilbert was your brother. He talked about you constantly."

Away in a corner, Gilbert stood, reading a news paper and leaning against the wall, looking over at it as Ludwig and Matthew slowly got more and more irritated with each other. He wanted to step in, tell the both of them they were being childish and to just get over it. But he was dead and an angel now, he couldn't no matter how much he wanted to. The conversation was terminated when Matthew turned and walked away from Ludwig, preferring to take the long route back to his desk. Only problem with this was that he was coming straight for Gilbert.

_Shit_. His mind cursed, he groaning and forcefully walking down the hallway. Matthew seemed to notice…

"The news that angering?" Usually, if Matthew didn't want to think of something unpleasant, he tried to change the subject his mind was mulling over.

"Uhh…" Gilbert also knew for a fact that Matthew would take it harshly if someone didn't recognize they asked him a question. He nodded quickly and grunted in affirmative. When Matthew laughed behind him Gilbert felt his slowly beating heart speed up. Even after death he still had the same effect on him.

"I guess I kind of agree. You know, the city's death-rate spiking in the last couple and all. Makes you worry doesn't it?"

"Mm-hmm!" Another rapid nod from Gilbert and Matthew caught up to him a little, his main focus still on his papers. This thankfully meant he didn't catch the silver hair of the man in front of him. "Hey uhm, you go ahead of me." Gilbert said deep in his throat, making his voice deeper and grainer than it usually was.

"Oh, thanks!" Matthew hurried ahead and turned around to walk backwards and keep talking with him, "What do you think of all that anyway? I mean, I've checked the neighboring cities, none of them have such heightened death rates." Figures that Matthew would notice that… Gilbert felt a swelling of pride in his chest.

"Ahem," Gilbert cleared his voice first to make sure he had the correct deepness to it, "I do think it's strange. But who knows, maybe it's all for a reason?"

"What reason is there to kill people? Are you saying that all of these unnatural deaths have been orchestrated by someone?" Pretty evident that Matthew had been spending more time with Fidel over the passing months, that swell of pride turned into a burn of jealousy.

"You sound like you have thought a lot about this." Matthew went pensive and turned around so he was facing forward again, letting Gilbert drop the paper slightly to look over it at him.

"Yeah, I guess I have… My brother and… Best friend both became statistics in it… I have a friend who's a detective and he's working up this theory…"

"I'm sorry for your loss."

"That's what everyone says." Just barely, Matthew's head shifted, his purple eyes able to see over his shoulder into the red ones behind him. They went wide and Gilbert pulled the newspaper back up as he turned around again.

_Shit! __Shit! Shit! Shit!_

"Who are you…?" Both frozen in the hallway, standing to face each other, Gilbert ran over a dozen possible ways to get out of this in his mind. The best one?

Shoving the paper into Matthew's face, he bolted down the hallway, the Canadian giving chase.

"Wait! Stop!" He caught sight of a black boot and a blue military pantleg going around the corner and he quickened his pace. "Please come back!" Matthew skidded and nearly contacted the wall as he rounded the corner and once again just lost sight of his target, causing a jolt of adrenaline to redouble his efforts.

Ahead and just around another corner (and heading for Ludwig's office) with Gilbert, the albino angel crashed into what felt like a tower. They both toppled to the ground, the sound gaining the attention of a lot of individuals (Matthew's yelling didn't help any).

"Idiot! Watch where you're…" Gilbert was struck speechless at the demon laying on the ground before him. Sweet smile intact and violet eyes glowing with malice, "Ivan?" He yelped in what a human would justify as horror and what Gilbert would call "morbid surprise".

"Hello, Cerviel, da." The swift footfalls coming from the behind reminded Gilbert that he was fleeing from a bad situation. Torn between confronting Ivan (apparently a prince of Hell) and explaining to Matthew (equally unpleasant) he chose to hightail it out of there. He jumped to his feet, Ivan following him with a smirk on his lips.

"I'm coming back for you!" Gilbert hissed through his ferociously angry, clenched teeth. A quick flap of the wings and he was gone. Matthew darted around the corner, laboriously panting as his eyes sought out the form of the one he was pursing. They stopped on Ivan.

"Excuse me, have you seen a man with white hair go by here?"

"No, I am sorry, da." The demon lied smoothly, Ludwig joining them a moment later, heading for somewhere in the hallway the two were standing in front of.

"Ludwig! I'm sorry about earlier and I'm not trying to pull your leg here, but have you seen an albino here anywhere?" The German shot him an angry stare and ignored the question, shouldering past Ivan. Figuring his hopes dashed Matthew sighed and covered his face, pulling at his hair dismally. He sniffled and then remembered he was in the presence of someone else, looking up to apologize, he realized he was alone.

%!%

"Amnediel!" Gilbert called, appearing into the room at a run and nearly stumbling over and eating the floor. Alfred spun around in Ludwig's desk chair to look over at him, immediately jumping to his feet in alarm.

"What is it?" Rather than answering right off the bat, Gilbert's head snapped around, looking for any trace of his living little brother.

"Where is Ludwig…?" A cold feeling clenched in his chest and he forgot to breathe.

"He went to the bathroom… Why?"

"The prince is here…" Gilbert said in a voice so airy and quiet it was nearly a whisper. Alfred, however, sprung into action, leaping over Ludwig's desk and nearly tripping as he dashed out of the office and into the hallway.

"Ludwig!" He yelled at the top of his lungs, Gilbert echoing this and hot on Alfred's heels. Instantly, everyone on the floor was poking their heads out of their offices. Even Arthur, seeing Alfred's receding form (Gilbert's too) and hearing his calls for Ludwig gave him more than enough reason to follow after them.

The two angels reached the hallway junction, Matthew just then turning to leave as he had noticed Ivan was gone. His heart stopped as he heard Alfred's voice yell for Ludwig, paired with Gilberts and then both of the men he so dearly missed turned into the hallway with the bathroom in it. They both were so caught up in what they were doing that they hadn't even noticed him… When Arthur came after them, the Brit noticed his little cousin and they shared a look of petrified knowing before following the two.

Down the hall they dashed, Francis and Antonio poking their heads out right as Gilbert passed by, sharing a look similar to what Matthew and Arthur did, they fled their offices as well. But instead of getting very far, the two crashed into Arthur and Matthew, all landing in a tangled pile of chaos and frantic yells.

The reason a physical angel's heart beats only half as fast as a humans and their blood naturally carries half as much oxygen per RBC is because when adrenaline floods their system, there is plenty of leeway. Their endurance skyrockets to more than superhuman heights, their blood cells fully expand with oxygen and their heart speeds up to accommodate this. If the need exceeds what the physical body can do though, it all stops. The heart stops beating, the lungs cease the intake of air and the angel is in a more free state. Their energies begin to leak out of the container it has been stuffed into on the mortal plain. In short, they effectively become one bad-ass mother-fucker!

"Let go of me!" Ludwig yelled at the top of his lungs to the Russian lifting him from the ground. Alfred and Gilbert both came into sight then, their wings only visible as blinding balls of light on their glowing bodies. Amnediel's eyes were as yellow as sunflowers when Ivan looked over and found the angel laying into him. The junior angel thrashed against some hidden barrier as a deep, ivy green bled through the purple into Ivan's eyes.

However, he hadn't remembered that Cerviel was with the younger angel and quickly found his shield shattered by a red-hot sword burying itself in his right shoulder. The demon threw Ludwig away, grinding his teeth as he glared holes into Cerviel's glowing pink eyes.

"Amnediel! Get Ludwig and go! I'll take care of Beliel!" Cerviel ordered and Amnediel broke away from the fighting to grab the stunned human who could scarcely believe what he was seeing. Just before Amnediel tenderly put his arms under Ludwig's and gripped him tight, he made eye contact with Beliel. In his mind rang endless sorrow and _fear_ for Ludwig, he heard the words echoed in his head.

"_Don't believe anything they say! They're demons Ludwig, trying to trick you!"_ Ludwig felt himself dragged away by the strong arms of the one who said he was sent to protect him. Such an uncomfortable experience that once he had assessed that Amnediel had brought him back to his apartment, he bolted to the sink in his kitchen and vomited into it. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the yellow gradually drain away in Alfred's eyes to his usual blue, concern very alive in them. Ludwig just squeezed his eyes shut as his stomach continued to rebel.

%!%

Meanwhile, back at the office, the four humans from earlier were leaning around a corner and baring witness to a nearly blinding fight between two seriously powerful combatants. Everyone else had fled, these people the only left on the floor as the big Russian man had the albino on the defensive. Harsh punches were being laid into the flat of the cherry-red blade with little ill effects upon the assailant it appeared. Violent waves of force made the blade vibrate with startling, ear-piercing volume.

A loud grunt and a defiant yell was the preamble to the light upon the swordsman's back to unfurl out into their true shape. The beauty of the wings was dumbfounding and the light they put off painful to behold, still the humans looked on in awe. A single flap and a lunge of the blade and the taller of the two was put on the retreat.

"Die!" The shorter screamed, raising the sword high-above his head, the Russian on his back and reaching into his coat. A very loud clang of steel nearly deafened the four man audience as they saw the sword had been stopped by a mere lead pipe. Even with something to defend himself with, he still couldn't get to his feet, the sheer force of the other pressing him into the ground. "You vordless piece of schid!"

"Whose fauld is zet?" The Russian countered and managed to knock the distracted man back far enough to get to his feet. Slowly, panting he backed away from his attacker, most likely seeing that he wasn't quite ready to take on this man. "I'm nod finished here…" His innocent, baby face brightened, "See you later, da?" A black, smoke-like ball seemed to start from behind his shoulders and engulfed him, he disappearing thereafter. Finally alone, the albino released a breath he apparently had been holding and stood up straight. The sword in his hand shrank down to what appeared to be the form of a wooden letter opener… The very end of it decorated with a little, yellow chick. He opened his deep blue jacket and inserted it into a hidden pocket before buttoning the jacket back up that had come undone during the fight.

Himself slowly calming down, the light drained away from him, leaving his silver wings on display for all to see. Seemingly remembering they were there after forgetting, he folded them to his back where they just ceased to exist. He mumbled something inaudible to himself and turned to head back down the hall, catching the eyes belonging to four of the five people he was supposed to avoid most.

"Uh…" The pinkness of his eyes disappeared, returning to their regular, dark burgundy.

"Gilbert?" Matthew quietly squeaked, gathering his attention.

_Shit_.

%!%!%

Notes:

De Facto-In this case meaning "In Reality"

Afterlife-This is _NOT quite my view of how it works. It is just being used this way for the story._

_MeiMei-This is a com_mon fan-rendered name for Taiwan, it is Chinese for little sister in this form, her real first name is Mei. For the Chinese (and I'm not sure about the Japanese) it is common for one's nickname to be a repeated syllable of your name.

Dui bu qi didi-I am sorry little brother. (I have chosen to give the pinyin forms of the words in case people find using the actual symbols confusing and disruptive.)

Beliel-A fallen angel that became a prince of Hell, name translates roughly to "Worthless".

Eye color change-Many angels have corresponding colors, when using vast amounts of power it changes the color of the angel's eyes (it was not intended that Gilbert be an angel whose color was pink XD)

A LOT of plot-important things were asked or happened in this chapter, I hope you guys remember this for later chapters ;) Also, if you have any questions I didn't answer in the notes, feel free to ask. If you guys who want a sequel to Throwback are reading this I have already announced I will not post the first chapter of the sequel until this is finished and if you want the next chapter of this to be up and eventually finished, PLEASE REVIEW! Thank you!


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